Life as a High School Superhero
by Andromeda of the Moon
Summary: Some GV and Gohan torture. A few original twists (at least as far as I know) and the return of some old friends and enemies as well as one completely new foe... Under renovation HAPPY BIRTHDAY STORY!
1. The Beginning of High School

AN: I'd like to welcome you all to my first fanfic ever. I want to say some stuff, but if you don't care then just skip ahead... First off I should mention this, I am a review hog, so I don't care if you flame me, just give me a reason for why you disagree with me (and if you really care then a way for me to contact you so I ca argue my opinion on the matter. Also I am open to any ideas people may have, any idea that I get from a review will be accredited to its creator. Don't bother suggesting that Gohan grow his tail back or bond with Videl or anything though, I really don't think either of these things could happen in the world Akira Toriyama created, and don't bother to argue with me I'm extremely stubborn. I do read fics that have these things but I'm not gonna write one, so yeah... Also if you have any questions or if you give me an idea or anything else make sure I can get your email to respond to you or to have you expand upon your idea. This story starts off when Gohan starts high school, everything that happened before this point in the show will be exactly as it happened in the show. I have no intention of rewriting the episodes of the show that I recreate but I will give a few lines of recap with just the gist of the info needed incase someone hasn't seen the episode. Oh, and for future reference, I don't own DBZ; that is until I rule the world, but until that day I don't own it and never have so remember that cause I ain't gonna tell you again! SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 1 The Beginning of High School  
  
Gohan sat on the Nimbus cloud deep in thought, fast approaching the city's skyline. This time though he was not heading to the densely packed city for one of his regular visits to Capsule Corp, but to attend his first day of high school at Orange Star High School in Satan City. He hopped off the cloud in the wooded area of a park on the outskirts of the city and thanked it for the ride before turning to jog the rest of the way to the school. (AN: Recap time!!) He came across a bank robbery and decided to help out. He went Super Saiyan and stopped the robbery, then disappeared before anyone could ask any questions. Videl asked the now powered down Gohan what happened and he pretended not to know while slowly backing away. Gohan was stressed during the remainder of his way to school though.  
  
*That girl was wearing an OHS badge; if she recognizes me I could have a lot of trouble on my hands. Wow I'm here already.* Gohan looked up at the building that would be his school for the next few years and sighed, it looked very dull. *Now to find the office and get my schedule, man today is just not my day. I mean what if my classes suck or something?* He walked into the building slowly and began his search for the office.  
  
After a good five-minute search he finally located the office, which was really a large glass room with a long, high desk splitting it into two halves, and received his schedule. Then, as he was about to start wandering the halls looking for his first class, a man walked up behind him.  
  
"So you're the new boy I suppose, Son Gohan," asked the man. He was an older man, with white hair, a white mustache and large glasses; he wore tan pants and had a large maroon bowtie around his neck, making him look rather fashion blind, even by Gohan's standards.  
  
"Yes, I am."  
  
"Well boy I've heard a lot about you; perfect score on your entrance exams AND with no previous formal education.... it's astounding. By the way, I'm you're homeroom and history teacher Mr. Sumisu, it's a REAL pleasure to meet such an outstanding young man as yourself."  
  
"Oh, it's so nice to meet you sir." The bell rang to start the first class right as Gohan finished this statement.  
  
"Here, I'll take you to the class so you don't get lost. I'll make sure someone shows you where your locker is later. Let's go, or we'll both be late." Mr. Sumisu led Gohan down the hall and into his first class  
  
(AN: RECAP) Gohan walked in and introduced himself. He took his seat next to Erasa and then met Videl and Sharpner. Videl wondered if he was really the Gold Fighter after she'd seen him in front of the bank earlier, and Sharpner thought he was a nerd while Erasa thought how cute he was. He proved to be rather odd after his antics in gym class but he managed to befriend the trio nonetheless. That day he decided that in order to fight crime he should don a disguise. He headed to Capsule Corp and Bulma created him a costume. Thus began Gohan's life as a high school superhero.  
  
RANDOM FACT: Akira Toriyama did not create DBGT. GT was created by Toei Animation, the Japanese producers of DB and DBZ, to keep people interested in the Dragonball world until their game was put out on the market. As such the world of Akira Toriyama does not encompass the events of GT and any fact supported only in that series may not be applicable in the rest of the DB/Z world.  
  
AN: Tell me if you like the random fact section, and if you have any comments, questions, or arguments feel free to email me or write it in your review. Oh and cause it was brought up, I know CC is in West City, I explain that later though... That was short, but they get better so keep reading and REVIEW!! 


	2. Birth of Friendship

AN: This part skips a little from the previous chapter. This is the start of the AU ness, but it's not a major AU part. SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 2 Birth of Friendship  
  
"Hey Gohan!" The black haired boy turned and laughed as one of his best friends, Erasa bounded towards him and gave him a big hug.  
  
"Hey Erasa, how's it going?" The blonde looked up at him and smiled. They had only known each other for a week but Erasa already had a massive crush on Gohan.  
  
"Umm... well me and Sharpner and Videl were gonna go hang at my house this afternoon and I was wondering if ya wanted to join us maybe?" She looked at him with puppy dog eyes pleading him to say yes.  
  
Gohan smiled (Son smile- big sheepish grin and a hand behind the head), and responded with, "Sure, I guess I could do that if you really want me to." The statement only caused the girl to fling her arms around his neck once again in happiness. After she released her death grip on him, Gohan smiled and the two walked off to class discussing the plans for that afternoon.  
  
After school that day, and after Gohan had called his mother to let her know where he was going, the quartet packed into Sharpner's sports (capsule) car. They talked and laughed on the way there, but Gohan was still uncomfortable. *I barely know these people what if I slip up? I mean school is one thing but here I'll be expected to talk about myself. I'm not going to lie but I can't tell the truth. What am I gonna do?* Before Gohan could think up a reasonable answer to that question, Erasa interrupted his thoughts.  
  
"Gohan, hey Gohan! Snap out of it!!" Gohan looked up at her, dazed. "Come on we're here." She smiled at him and pulled him out of the car. Gohan looked up surprised. They were standing in front of a beautiful building, older looking than most of the city's skyline, and at least eight stories high. Erasa pulled him to the front door and the elderly doorman opened it with a smile and a slight nod of the head towards Erasa. They entered into a large lobby area full of exquisite artwork and sculpture, and then proceeded on up a grand marble stairwell. Erasa dragged Gohan along next to her by his arm until the reached a set of doors on the second floor of the building. Erasa took out her key and opened the door.  
  
"Wow Erasa, nice place." Gohan said awestruck by the beautiful loft in front of him. He followed the others into the apartment and Erasa closed the doors behind them. She laughed at Gohan's comment and began to show him around the house.  
  
"I guess you can say that. See my mom's a model; she's not really famous because she's a hand model; she models rings and bracelets for this big jewelry company so no one ever recognizes her face. But still she gets paid a whole ton of money and sometimes she gets to go to these fancy parties to show off the diamonds and stuff, she has met all these really rich and really famous people!" Erasa smiled and laughed as they walked into the entertainment room. As they entered they saw a woman who looked like an older version of Erasa walking quickly towards the door. "That's my mom, Gohan. Hey mom, I'm home; you remember Videl and Sharpner, and this cutie here is Gohan."  
  
"Oh, you are just SO adorable," Erasa's mom exclaimed, "Gohan it's a real pleasure to meet you but I'm sorry to say I can't stay and chat. I have this big shoot today, so I won't be back until late tonight. I'm sorry dear," Erasa's mother sighed seeing the disappointed look on her daughter's face, "but tomorrow we're going to spend all day shopping, right?" Erasa's face lit up and she gave her mother a big hug as a sign of agreement, Erasa could never be upset when she had shopping she could look forward to. Everyone said good-bye to Erasa's mother and she left.  
  
"So how 'bout we put some movies in and make some popcorn and have some fun!" Everyone agreed with Erasa's idea and flopped down on the giant couch while Erasa herself made a call to the maid to bring them popcorn. They found a good action movie (with romance, but that's only because Erasa doesn't have any movies at her house that don't have a romance angle) and started talking amongst themselves.  
  
"Does this movie have a real plot line to it at all?" Sharpner asked after a half hour of random murders and romances.  
  
"Sharpner, I didn't know that you enjoyed plotlines in movies. I thought that you were only interested in the girls and explosions," Videl smirked at him. Gohan rolled his eyes at her and continued to watch the movie.  
  
"This stuff is almost as stupid as the special effects that those guys in the Cell Games used." Sharpner stated non-chalantly. Videl nodded in agreement while Gohan's face flashed a look of anger that, luckily for him, no one noticed.  
  
"I always thought those tricks were really well done. I mean you couldn't see any ropes holding them up or anything. I mean that had to be a fake, but that kid was SO cute. I mean the hair was so wild and it glowed, and he was just adorable in that little outfit he wore. I wonder what happened to him and where he is now." Erasa looked off into space with a dreamy look on her face and sighed. Gohan blushed at her comment and looked to the ground. Videl rolled her eyes at her friend. *I bet that kid is the Gold Fighter and maybe Saiyaman as well. If Gohan is the Gold Fighter then was he there at the Cell games, but...* Videl's thought were interrupted by Gohan as he suddenly stood up.  
  
"Sorry guys, but I have to get going. Thanks for everything Erasa, see ya in school," Gohan didn't make eye contact with any of them as he said that and quickly stalked towards the front door. Erasa jumped up, ran over to the door, and opened it for him as the three said a startled good- bye to Gohan. After Erasa closed the door she went and sat back down on the couch with Sharpner and Videl.  
  
"I wonder what's wrong with him," Erasa said, clearly concerned for Gohan.  
  
"Nerd boy will be fine Erasa, don't worry, I'm sure he just remembered that he had homework to do or something and decided to rush home to do it. I for one could care less about what he does." Sharpner leaned back on the couch and put his hands behind his head.  
  
"Be nice to poor Gohan," Erasa said angrily, "I'm gonna invite him to go to the party with me. He's a nice guy and really smart, not to mention the cutest guy in the school. He is really shy and quirky but he doesn't have any real friends and I don't think that's right at all, so I don't care what you think of him Sharpner, he's my friend, so don't be so mean to him. So what if he's smart, at least he has a future because of his brain." Sharpner just stared at her for a moment amazed at her little speech.  
  
"Calm down Erasa. I know he's not a really horrible person but I can't ruin my reputation by hanging out with a nerd like that. The girls like tough guys, and Gohan is definitely NOT a tough guy."  
  
*I don't think that idiot has a clue what he's talking about; Gohan was really upset... Was it because we were talking about the Cell Games? And if he is the Great Saiyaman then he's defiantly not a weakling like Sharpner thinks he is...* Videl was pondering this when her watch went off and the police chief alerted her to a bank robbery that was only a few blocks away. Videl jumped up and bolted out the front door yelling a rush apology to her friends.  
  
Gohan meanwhile was deep in thought. *The Cell Games... why does everything in this city have to revolve around that lie. The city is named after a liar and everyone in the city lies so casually, they've even turned me into a liar just because I can't reveal truth without destroying lives. Why did I let this happen? Why did father have to die, he would know what to do... But then again he's the reason I can't come forward... him and now Videl, I would ruin her life if I told them all the truth now. Dende, I don't know if I can deal with all this.* Gohan was so immersed in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice that he was walking right by a bank robbery in process. He was brought back into the living world as he collided with a robber, and the robber fell to the ground making Gohan blink and scratch his head as his attention returned to the real world.  
  
"I'm sorry... hey what's going on here?" Gohan looked around and noticed the alarms going off and the other masked men running for a car.  
  
"I'll get you for that kid!" The robber pulled out a gun to shoot Gohan. He never got off a shot though, as Videl had just appeared on the scene and kicked the gun out of his hand. She took out the robber with one kick and then proceeded to go after the others, who were having getaway-car troubles at the moment. Within seconds it was over, all the thieves had been knocked out by Videl or had surrendered to the police, who had arrived just in time to see Videl save the day. *Wow she's really good. I bet with some real training she could be as strong as Yamcha, or maybe even Krillin. Maybe Saiyaman isn't needed as much as I thought; she seems more than capable of handling weak humans. Maybe I'll let her handle the weakest ones, that way I won't have to sneak out of class every time she leaves on a call... I think people were getting suspicious. From now on Saiyaman only fights the strongest villains, during school at least, outside of school I'll fight them all, no sense in Videl risking her life when it's not necessary.*  
  
"EARTH TO GOHAN!!" Gohan cringed as Videl yelled in his ear; Saiyan hearing was slightly better than that of a normal human (though no where near as good as a Namek's). "Are you alright Gohan? You seem pretty out of it." Gohan looked at the concerned face of his friend and smiled.  
  
"Sorry Videl. I have a lot on my mind... and having a gun pointed at me didn't help my mood."  
  
"As long as you're ok... you left pretty suddenly and we were worried about you. Is there something you want to talk about?" Gohan looked into her eyes as they walked from the crime scene into a neighboring park and sat down on a secluded bench. *Should I trust her.....? I am so sick of lying, so maybe a little truth won't hurt, just this once...*  
  
"You see Videl, my dad... he died. He was killed by Cell seven years ago." Videl looked shocked and surprised by this statement.  
  
"He fought Cell? What was he insane?" Videl almost yelled.  
  
"He was a strong fighter, actually," Gohan said smiling slightly.  
  
"Apparently not if he lost to Cell," Videl scoffed. "I mean my father beat Cell rather easily, and I am just as strong as my dad... maybe stronger than he was when he fought Cell."  
  
Gohan's eyes flashed with anger, "You don't even know what you're talking about! Did you ever even see Cell, ever feel his true power, ever seen what was left of his victims?"  
  
Videl shook her head no, "There were no real victims; all his supposed victims were just kidnapped, if they died then how is it that they all retuned after my father defeated Cell?"  
  
"I saw Cell, Videl; he was not an easy kill. My father was a true warrior, not only that, and you have to promise not to tell ANYONE this," Videl nodded in silent agreement but rolled her eyes sarcastically at the same time, "He was the World Champion before your dad." Videl gasped and looked at him shocked; this was the last thing she had expected to hear. *A nerd, the son of one of the greatest martial artists of all time, I just don't believe it...*  
  
"So. you do know how to fight, don't you?" Gohan frowned slightly, looked to the ground, and nodded. "Wow, I really underestimated you Gohan. I... I'm sorry, we've been calling you weak, without even giving you a shot to prove yourself, but," she looked at him, a devious smile appearing on her face, "I want to fight you; I want to see who is stronger. It'll be great, the son of the former champ and the daughter of the current champ."  
  
"Videl, you said you wouldn't tell."  
  
"And I won't tell anyone as long as you fight with me. Come on this will be an excellent way for you to prove yourself; that is if you can manage to beat me, which is highly unlikely. Son Goku... I should have guessed he was your father; you have the same family name. I watched some of the old footage of those fights, it wasn't televised back then but dad has copies of all the old Tournament championship fights since the great martial arts master, Master Roshi won for the first time. Your dad was in three championship fights, and before the cameras went out on the last one I could have sworn I saw him do those tricks that the guys at the Cell games did, can you do them? I want to fight you Gohan, come on!"  
  
"Videl those aren't tricks, there are a lot of people that know how to do things like that, and they have rained to master those techniques throughout their entire lives. And I refuse to fight just to boost my ego or to prove myself, I've already done that... I only fight to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves, if I couldn't save my father by fighting why should I fight at all? Fighting just to gloat over a win is one of the most dishonorable things I can think of doing. It's disgraceful for a warrior to act so immaturely." Gohan was yelling by the time he had finished talking to her. Videl was in total shock and looked like she was about to cry, not out of sadness but out of anger and surprise. "I'm sorry but I have to go Videl, it's getting late." Gohan looked tired and worried; he placed his hand on his head and sighed, "Bye Videl. I'm sorry but I think I've said too much, you weren't ready for the truth... yet." Videl blinked in confusion and he was gone. She jumped up and looked around for him for a moment before sighing and turning to go home.  
  
*What does this all mean, what secrets is he hiding? I have to know, now more than ever. And now if he won't tell me everything, I'll expose him, he obviously doesn't want anyone to know. Wait, could he really be the Great Saiyaman? Yes, he has to be, I'm surer of it now than ever before.*  
  
After leaving the bewildered Videl in the park, Gohan went to Kami's Lookout in search of Piccolo. "Piccolo, I need your help." He walked up to the meditating Namek who opened his eyes and looked at him as a way of signaling the boy to continue. "I kinda said something I shouldn't have to a friend of mine. I need you to help her to forget. Forget everything I told her after the robbery."  
  
"What did you tell this girl?" Piccolo asked as he stood up.  
  
"About dad, I told her he was a fighter and was killed by Cell; now she wants to know how strong I really am, but she's not ready for the truth. Not that quickly, she may put the pieces together on her own eventually but I'll deal with that as time progresses. For now I need you to make her forget what I said, please Piccolo." Piccolo smiled at his former pupil, proud of the strong and noble man he had become, yet still concerned for his state of mind when it came to the circumstances of his father's death.  
  
"Alright kid, I'll try, I know you wouldn't ask unless it was necessary." Piccolo said as he smiled at Gohan, "I'll make sure that she'll wake up tomorrow with no memory of what you said."  
  
"Thank you Piccolo, thank you very much." Gohan sighed with relief before turning, and with a wave good bye, flying off to his house.  
  
"I think I'll pay him a visit in a few days to cheer him up." The young Namekian behind Piccolo said quietly. Piccolo nodded in agreement and the two walked back into the palace.  
  
RANDOM FACT: According to Akira Toriyama the flying cat, Puar, is a male, even though the animated voice (at least the American version, I can't currently recall his voice in the Japanese) sounds rather feminine, it's so convincing in fact that even Yamcha calls Puar a girl at one point in time... Of course Freiza's voice sounded feminine as well but we won't address that freak of nature at this point in time...  
  
AN: I know that was pointless but not if it comes back to haunt him later (evil laugh), AND IT WILL I SWEAR!! But I hope to do some purely original ideas (at least ones I've never seen). I need reviews PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!! 


	3. Sharpner's Party

AN: Thank you all for the reviews. I'm glad to see you're all still reading, it makes me very happy! SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 3 Sharpner's Party  
  
"Gohan," Erasa started the morning with her daily squeal as Gohan came into view. Gohan smiled the Son smile at Erasa as she clamped onto his arm, "You left so early yesterday, I was worried."  
  
"I'm sorry Erasa, I... I remembered I had something that I had to do, a friend I had to go see, I am sorry."  
  
"I'll forgive you... on one condition." Erasa looked up at Gohan with a smile and winked, a motion that truly scared Gohan; "You have to come over to Sharpner's house today with me and Videl. His dad just opened his new gym and there's a reception at Sharpner's house. I need a date, so I want you to come, cutie." Erasa giggled and winked again as Gohan sighed in exasperation.  
  
"I guess I can Erasa, when and where?"  
  
"Oh goodie, um... The party starts at seven so meet me at my apartment at six, I'll drive since I know the way. Oh, and wear a nice suit, k?" Erasa winked again and skipped off down the hall *How do I get myself into things like this? I wasn't lying exactly when I said I went to visit a friend, yet I still feel really guilty. Man, I can't believe it's only Tuesday! I'm already stressed out maybe I'll cheat on my way home and get in some extra meditation before the start of this party.*  
  
"GOHAN!" The black haired boy cringed. This voice was sharper and more irritated that Erasa's had been, it could only belong to one person...  
  
"Oh... hi, Videl" Gohan stammered. "How's it going?" *I hope Piccolo erased her memory right or I'm in trouble.*  
  
"Don't 'Hi Videl' me Gohan. You just ran off after that bank robbery yesterday, you didn't even talk to the police about what happened."  
  
"Oh," Gohan said relief evident in his tone, "Is that all Videl? Because I have class, but I promise that if the police need me I'll talk to them just tell me when, ok?" Videl started at his back as he quickly retreated down the hall. *What the hell is his problem? That was too odd.*  
  
The rest of the day went by with out much incident. Videl got a call after lunch but Gohan didn't follow her this time, something that Erasa did not fail to notice. He sensed the criminals' kis and they were miniscule, even for humans, so Gohan let Videl handle it on her own.  
  
"Gohan, are you and Videl having a fight? I mean, you didn't follow her today, what's going on?"  
  
"Nothing's going on Erasa. I'm not fighting with Videl, and I never 'followed' her anywhere. Videl has a job to do..." Erasa looked at Gohan curiously but didn't question her friend any further. After Videl's return the rest of the day went by very fast. He left quickly after school to get home so he could relax and eat before going out that evening.  
  
"Hey mom, I'm home." Gohan yelled into the house after he arrived.  
  
"What are you doing here so early didn't school just get out? What happened?" Chichi started to rant on about what she would do if something happened at his school and that's why he wasn't there.  
  
"Calm down mom," Gohan stated as he dug through the refrigerator looking for a snack, "I just rushed home to get my work done. Sharpner's family is having a party tonight and I was invited, so I rushed home to do my work and relax some before I had to go. Is that ok?"  
  
"Oh my baby's growing up and going to fancy parties. Oh..." Chichi's eyes went from big and dreamy to angry instantly, "but if this new found social life interferes with your studies you won't be going anywhere mister!"  
  
"Ok mom, that's why I hurried home, to make sure I got my work done. I'll be in my room." Gohan called as he walked back to his room, his arms full of the food that he had 'liberated' from the fridge while talking to his mother. *She's really unpredictable. Hmm... I guess I'll never figure her out, oh well now to get down to work.*  
  
Within ten minutes the food was gone and the homework completed. *That schoolwork is so easy. I actually almost appreciate my mom forcing me to study for all those years; I don't have to worry about overworking myself now. But it does give time to go and relax and actually make some friends for once.* Gohan stood up and stretched, he had a few hours still before he had to get ready so he changed into his gi. He called a rushed good bye to his mom as he raced out the door and took to the sky. He leisurely flew to a secluded spot high in the mountains, a waterfall crashed into the river below it and the trees that grew up were tall and dense. This was Gohan's private spot. He had found it as a child while exploring with his dad. Gohan often came here to meditate; it was somewhere no one could find him because no one knew the place existed. He lowered his ki as far as he possibly could, so as not to be found by those who could sense ki, and sat on a rock next to the waterfall, meditating easily in the serenity of his environment.  
  
Gohan remained in this position for many hours. He finally opened his eyes as the sun started to go down. "Oh no, I forgot about the party!" Gohan raced back to his house and got ready for the party. He finished getting ready at quarter until six and once again yelled a rushed good bye to his mother as he raced out the door and took to the air. He flew as fast as he could towards Erasa's apartment and landed in a dark alley a few blocks away. He jogged up to the doorman and told the man he was there to see Erasa. The doorman nodded and called Erasa's apartment, telling her a guest was there to see her. Erasa appeared a minute later dressed in a black spaghetti strap, v-neck dress that went half way down her thigh. She came out the door with a smile and twirled for Gohan before taking up her usual position clamped onto his arm.  
  
"So ya like the dress?"  
  
"You look great Erasa. So... shall we go?" Erasa giggled and nodded yes. She let go of Gohan's arm and opened her purse. She pulled out a case of capsules and opened the one with the air car inside. "Cool, let's go."  
  
The drive to the suburbs of Satan City took a good forty-five minutes so Erasa and Gohan arrived about fifteen minutes early for the party. Right away Erasa caught sight of Sharpner and ran up to him. He stood leaning up against the doorframe of his front door looking annoyed.  
  
"Sharpner! Hey me and Gohan are here so where's Videl?"  
  
"You actually came with that loser?"  
  
"Why? I gave him a ride here; it's to make up for his leaving so abruptly yesterday. AND DON'T CALL HIM A LOSER!!!"  
  
"Whatever." Sharpner muttered. "This party is gonna be so lame. Oh Videl's here. Well, I might as well show you all around since none of you have ever seen it before. Hi Videl," Sharpner said standing up straight and puffing out his chest, "we were just about to start the tour, are you coming?"  
  
"Sure Sharpner, why not? This house actually looks nice, not too big like the place I live."  
  
"Thanks doll, let's go." Videl rolled her eyes at the comment but followed the others into the house nonetheless. They walked around the house starting in the entrance hall, which was relatively plain with its polished wood floors and a small staircase on the left side ascending to the second floor. They walked into the dinning room where a banquet table was set up for the reception. Sharpner explained some of the oddities and trinkets that were sparsely scattered around the house, mainly consisting of family portraits and small bouquets of flowers.  
  
The den was a completely different story though. There was a couch in the center of the room and a large chair on the far side of the room and the walls were lined with shelves. Everything in the room was covered in trophies, plaques, and signed photographs. Videl, Erasa and Gohan began to wander around the room and look at all the awards that littered the room.  
  
"Wow you didn't tell us your dad was a baseball player Sharpner." Erasa said, seemingly impressed by this revelation about Sharpner's family.  
  
"Yeah, he was only a minor leaguer but they had the best team that the city's ever seen, but he didn't even make it to the majors, only one guy from that team ever did." Sharpner waved the comment off like it was a disgraceful fact at worst and an annoyance at best. Gohan walked over to Erasa to see the picture that she had been staring at for the past few minutes. He leaned in over her shoulder to get a closer look and then suddenly burst out laughing. Videl, Erasa, and Sharpner turned to stare at him and noticed he was doubled over, laughing to the point of tears. They were still looking at him with questioning looks as he regained a little of his composure.  
  
"I'm... I'm sorry," he gasped, "but he looks ridiculous," and burst out laughing again.  
  
"Are you talking about my father nerd boy?" Sharpner said, clenching his fist in anger. Gohan dried his eyes and calmed himself before looking over at Sharpner's angry façade.  
  
"No this guy here," Gohan pointed to the man next to Sharpner's father, "He's a friend of a friend and he looks so strange in this picture. I mean he looks so goofy and young. When was this picture taken?" Sharpner looked at the man to whom Gohan was pointing, and his face fell.  
  
"That's the Bandit! He's the guy that DID make it to the major leagues. He's a coach for the team now, a batting coach. How do YOU know him?"  
  
Gohan did the Son smile as he looked at his friend's shocked faces. "Umm.. I never knew he was famous or anything, I haven't seen him in at least seven years. But as I said, he used to date this girl who was my dad's childhood friend, although I think he met my dad first... I'm not clear on the details. So how old is this picture?"  
  
"This one was taken about fourteen years ago. My dad always said the guy was a player but never had a steady girlfriend."  
  
"Well they were still dating then, and had been for many years I think. But that's why they eventually broke up, too many girls in on the relationship."  
  
"I guess, he was one of the greatest players the team's ever seen, but he disappeared the week before he was supposed to start with his new team in the majors, which was about two months after this picture was taken. They say he got involved with that alien stuff that happened back then, but dad says he was probably in a mental asylum or something cause he passed up his chance to make it big. But he reappeared a few years ago and started coaching. He was a martial artist too and even competed in a few of the World Tournaments before Mr. Satan won for the first time."  
  
"Sharpner, you actually sound like you know what you're talking about, for once. What are you an expert on the guy?"  
  
"No, he was one of the best though, they say he was so fast that you couldn't even see him, that's why he was called the Bandit I think, he was the king of stolen bases, stole home more times than most players steal bases period. Dad was always jealous of his talent I think, but one day I hope, not only to make it to the majors, but to be a semifinalist in the World Championships, just like the Bandit." Sharpner sighed and turned away from the group, almost solemnly, "I would kill to know what his secret is, but I can't find his address anywhere and the team practices are secret so I've been able to speak with him..."  
  
"Next time I see him I'll see what he can do. He's a really nice guy once ya get to know him, but like most of them he's kinda secretive about his personal life and his past... too many bad memories... But as long as you don't pry I'm sure you two would get along great." Gohan smiled at his friend in an attempt to make him a little more optimistic about his future.  
  
Sharpner turned and faced Gohan then began laughing, "You probably don't even know him nerd boy, just trying to make yourself sound cool. HA!"  
  
"Yeah Sharpner that's it," Gohan said, slightly sarcastically.  
  
"Well it's past seven, let's go join my old man and eat some food, I don't think I've ever seen you eat Gohan. You always disappear during lunch." Gohan laughed nervously and did the Son smile. The quartet walked out the door of the den and into the dinning room that was now full of people. They sat at the far end of the table away from Sharpner's father, so as to keep a low profile.  
  
Dinner went by without a hitch. As a part of "getting ready" for Gohan was of course eating a large snack he managed to eat civilly and at a human pace, although a rather fast human pace. He did eat a few portions but managed to remain within his friend's view of normal eating habits; after dinner everyone went into the large living room for the slide show.  
  
It turned out to be a relatively normal night (AN: Much to the reader's shock I'm sure.). Gohan almost fell asleep during the slide show but he mostly just listened to his friends' conversations, which mostly centered on Sharpner and his future in baseball, Yamcha was brought up a more few times but Gohan wisely kept his mouth shut. Afterwards they said their good byes to each other and went their separate ways home.  
  
"Hey Gohan, you need a ride? Where are you walking to?" Videl came up behind him; there was more than just concern for his well being in her voice, there was also suspicion.  
  
"Umm.. no that's ok Videl. I'm just tired cause the slide show was so boring. I wanted to wake up a little by taking a walk before I decided to head home." *Well at least it's partially true. I hate this constant lying...* Gohan smiled and Videl shook her head.  
  
"I was wondering, do you really know that baseball player that Sharpner was talking about?"  
  
"Yeah, I know him."  
  
"How come you never mentioned him before then?"  
  
"As I said, I never even knew he played baseball, that picture was taken about a year before I met him for the first time. Besides what does it really matter in the long run if I know someone who just happens to be famous? Just because everyone knows the name doesn't mean they know the person the name belongs too. Besides not everyone who's famous wants to be and not everyone who's famous deserves to be..."  
  
"Why wouldn't you want to be famous, and why would you be famous if you didn't deserve it?" Videl was getting a little annoyed by innuendo.  
  
"Not everyone is like you Videl, some people, like myself, value their privacy and just want to live a normal life. And as for those who don't deserve to be famous, there are people who will take the credit for other's accomplishments so that they can be famous without having to do the work."  
  
"Are you implying that I LIKE being the daughter of the 'Great Mr. Satan' and use his name to be famous? Cause if you are then really know nothing about me and aren't a very good friend," Videl almost yelled, her eyes beginning to fill with tears.  
  
"That's not what I'm saying Videl, but you do seem able to cope with being famous pretty well... maybe that's just because you've been doing it for seven years now... And I never implied that you use your father's name to make yourself famous, although that's probably the only reason they let you fight crime, but by fighting crime you've made a name for yourself doing something worthwhile and becoming famous on your own. I'm sorry if you misunderstood me, I'm really not used to being anyone's friend..."  
  
"You're not a bad guy Gohan, even if you are a little nerdy, I'm sure you have more friends than I can count."  
  
"Most of the people I consider my friends are actually a lot older than me, they were my dad's friends, and even his enemies, oh and their children, I guess, but they're all younger than me."  
  
"So you've ever had friends your own age?"  
  
"Not really, I did befriend this girl about seven years ago but I haven't seen her in years."  
  
"Well, Erasa, Sharpner, and I are your friends now, even if we are a strange group. I have to head home though. I'll see you in class tomorrow I guess. Bye Gohan."  
  
"Good night Videl. And you three aren't strange; you're the most normal people I've ever met." Videl laughed at his comment as she opened her capsule copter. Gohan walked down the street deep in thought. *She suspects something I know she does. I just hope that if she figures out the truth that she can deal with it. She'd be a dangerous enemy with all the power she posses, I can fight physical strength but she has the people on her side and she can turn them against me. I could be branded an outcast by society. I can't fight that. But then again she did say that she was my friend, and friends wouldn't betray each other like that would they? So was she bluffing last night when she said she would tell people unless I agreed with her? I don't think I'll ever figure girls out...* Gohan looked around to make sure that no one was watching him as he walked into a wooded area near Sharpner's neighborhood, then took off into the air. He didn't notice the shadowy figure that was watching him from behind a house down the street, a figure that was very interested in him.  
  
RANDOM FACT: The inhabitants of Penguin Village, the place where General Blue and Goku end up after escaping the pirate's cave in DB, are the characters in the manga Dr. Slump. Dr. Slump was Akira Toriyama's first manga and it starred Arale and her rather vulgar little floating friends.  
  
AN: Oo.. who's the shadowy figure? Well sorry to say I won't tell just yet. Please review even if it's a flame. I just want reviews!!! Now go down and review (I'll give you a cookie if you do) PLEASE!!! 


	4. The Odd Project

AN: I have reviewers that actually like me!! HAPPY!! Wow thanks guys for the great reviews and thanks to P-sama for telling me what AU means, it does fit almost every fan fic and this one too. Thanks guys. SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 4 The Odd Project  
  
It was Thursday, probably the only day of the week more depressing than Monday, for Thursdays are days that try to lull you into a false sense of happiness. While Wednesday had marked the middle of the week saying "this week is half over" you would assume that Thursday would be a less stressful day. That is until you remember about Friday, the day which was still to come, thereby creating a barrier in front of the peace the weekend held. It had been two days since Sharpner's party and Videl had been more suspicious than ever. Gohan had been forced to help her the previous day with a dinosaur that was rampaging through the city, and she had been very unthankful for Saiyaman's help. The week was not going Gohan's way, but this Thursday was really bad, even as Thursdays go. This Thursday was a perfect addition to the already bad week.  
  
"This project will be over 50% of your final grade folks, so make sure actually do this assignment, please. Now I want you all to get into groups of four and then I'll tell you exactly what you have to do. NOW MOVE!" Mr. Sumisu snapped at the students to wake them up. They groggily moved into groups of four. Gohan, Videl, Sharpner, and Erasa worked together, Sharpner actually wanted to work with Gohan on this project because he thought that he wouldn't have to do any work with the "nerd boy" in his group. "Ok students, this assignment will be a two week project on the history of a being, group, or event. These topics were specifically chosen because of the mystery surrounding some of it so it will be up to you to decipher fact from legend, which means actually talking to people who witnessed the events. It has three components the first of which is due next Monday. Now could one person from each group please come down and pick a topic out of this hat, please? Then, if you could, pick up the corresponding folder telling you exactly what you need to do to complete the process."  
  
Gohan walked down the tiered classroom towards the hat on the teacher's desk and took a place in the line that was forming. As the other students went to sit down Gohan glanced at the topics they had selected. There were a few topics that he didn't know much about, but then there were a few with labels like "The World Martial Arts Championships", and, to Gohan's horror, one labeled "The Red Ribbon Army". Gohan slowly made his way up to the desk. *At least the bad ones are probably gone by now. The Red Ribbon Army, those guys could run into some trouble with that one, although I don't think that the connection was ever made between them, my dad, the dragonballs, and the androids... Which is a really good thing if I want to keep my past a secret, although the group doing the tournament may find out a few things... but that group is rather dimwitted, all jocks, so maybe they won't make the connection... Oh, my turn.* Gohan approached the desk and put his hand in the hat and pulled out the slip of paper. He stepped out of the line and walked towards the folders on the teacher's desk, opening his piece of paper as he went. As he read it, he stopped dead in his tracks, all the color drained from his face and a look of horror and pain plastered on his normally cheery face.  
  
"Gohan, GOHAN!" Videl was yelling in his ear. Gohan jumped at the sound of his name and turned to look at her, a look of horror still on his face. "What is it, what does it say? Gohan...?" He slowly handed her the slip of paper, his hand shaking slightly, knowing that her reaction would not be good either. "Well, I should have expected this, my bad luck. Cell... I should have known, only I can be cursed this badly. Well Gohan let's go, we have work to do... unfortunately." Gohan hadn't noticed that the rest of the class had already left; he and Videl were the only ones in the room.  
  
Gohan want and gathered his stuff, then followed after Videl. Sharpner and Erasa were waiting right outside the door, "Let's go outside and look over all of this stuff," Videl said, holding up the manila envelope containing the information on their assignment. They all nodded their silent acceptance of her proposal, and the group walked towards the doors of the building, Gohan taking up the rear, once again deep in his own thoughts. They sat down at an empty picnic table behind the school and Videl opened the envelope. "Ok, we have, of course, the Cell games stuff, that's easy we'll just go to my house and look at the videos and talk to my dad. I really wish I didn't have to do the project on this, I'll never hear the end of it." Videl shook her head in disgust, "At least that's the last part of the project; we can put it off for as long as possible. Um... what's the first part?" Videl began to flip through the papers in front of her looking for the right part. Gohan was still in a daze from the irony of it all. *Dende, if you're behind this I will kill you.* Gohan knew his friend could hear his angry thoughts but didn't care, although Gohan was surprised that he got a response from the Earth's guardian.  
  
*Actually Gohan... I didn't do that. I mean, I did know that topic was on of the possibilities, but I tried to make sure you didn't get it... Gohan you have to believe that I would never do this to you, you're my friend and I know how you feel about what happened seven years ago.*  
  
Gohan suddenly looked up, staring into the clouds, a look of shock and confusion etched across his face, *But if you didn't do it then who did Dende?* Videl stopped shuffling through the papers and stared curiously at Gohan, wondering what had caused him to suddenly jerk the way he did.  
  
*I don't know Gohan, I just don't know.* Gohan put his face into his hands in disbelief.  
  
*Who can override the will of the guardian of Earth? What's going on? Is there a new enemy? Or could it have been one of the Kais screwing with my head because they were bored, or drunk?* Gohan's head was full of a jumble of unanswerable questions. He lowered his head and gazed at the people sitting around him, he quickly shook the questions out of his head, *I can't do this now; it's no use thinking of this. I'll never answer these questions on my own, I'll just have to go to the lookout after school and see if Dende has any more information. And if he can't help me then I'll find someone who can.* Gohan looked over to find Videl giving him a puzzling glare. Gohan smiled nervously as she snapped her eyes back down to the papers in front of her.  
  
"Oh... here it is. Um... it's something about a shelter built... Hey Gohan, it was built near your house, it was built out in the mountains!" Gohan's jaw dropped, *I know someone's up to something now.* "It says here that it was built to protect the people of the area, hundreds of people invested in it, but it was destroyed mysteriously just days before the start of the Cell Games. Wow."  
  
"Oh," Erasa squealed with delight, "Why don't we all go up there this weekend and check out the place? Gohan will let us stay at his house for the night on Friday and we can look around all day Saturday. You'll let us, won't you Gohan?" Erasa blinked at him sweetly and smiled.  
  
"Well I'll have to check with my mom but there shouldn't be that much of a problem since it is for school."  
  
"Fine then it's settled," Videl stood up. "Here Gohan, take the folder and try to find out where we should go will ya?"  
  
"Sure Videl," Gohan said as he took the folder from Videl. The four walked back into the school for their next class, gym. Gohan knew something was going on and was so distracted in class that he didn't even notice when a tennis ball came hurtling towards his head. It was only the impact that forced him to shift his balance that woke him from his thoughts. He put his hand up to his head, to where the tennis ball had hit his head, in his confusion, wondering what had just tapped him.  
  
"Are you ok son? I think you should go to the nurse's office, I don't want you to end up having a concussion." Gohan nodded, thanking Dende that he wouldn't have to deal with the rest of that class. He walked into the locker room, changed into his normal clothes and slowly walked to the nurse's office.  
  
"Oh, hello Gohan," the nurse said as he shuffled into her office, "your gym teacher sent a student ahead to tell me what happened. Are you ok?" Gohan looked at her blankly, barely even registering the fact that she was speaking. The look in his eyes caused her to unconsciously bite her nails, worried about his condition. "Umm... Why don't you go home Gohan, I'll call your mother and tell her that your own your way. Ok, honey?" Gohan nodded in dazed agreement and walked back out of the door he had just entered through. *I hope mom understands. I'll stop by there before I head to the Lookout. I should get there as fast as possible to keep her from freaking out at the poor nurse.*  
  
Gohan arrived home to hear his mother on the phone demanding to know what happened. Gohan came up beside her, faster than she could see and disconnected the phone on her. She looked up surprised and almost dropped the receiver that was still in her hand.  
  
"Hi mom," Gohan smiled.  
  
"Oh, Gohan... How did you get here so fast? What happened? Why are you home? The nurse said you got hurt, but I knew that that couldn't happen... so young man, why are you skipping school?" Chichi gave Gohan a deadly look. He sighed and brought her to the table to sit down before telling her what had happened. He told her about the project they had to do for class and how his group's topic was Cell, he quickly told her that Dende was not responsible in any way, but that some other force had overridden his will. Then he told her about the group wanting to stay over on Friday night something she agreed to rather easily, too easily for Gohan's liking, but he continued on with his tale anyway, he told her that he was sent home because they thought he had a concussion from a tennis ball, hit by some weak little teenage human, had hit him on the head. Chichi smiled at that, knowing nothing that some normal human sent flying his way would ever cause damage to her elder son. Yet by his weak appearance the school automatically thought that he would be easily injured, something that was highly unlikely, for if something did hurt him physically the world was in grave danger.  
  
"I have to go to the Lookout now Mom, I have to find out what's going on." Gohan stood up and turned to leave.  
  
"Be safe Gohan. Don't..." Gohan turned to look at his mother who looked extremely worried about his mental well being.  
  
"Don't worry Mom, I'll see you for dinner. Bye," with a smile and a wave Gohan took to the sky, heading for the Lookout.  
  
Gohan flew to the Lookout as fast as he possibly could. He set down in front of the large palace and was immediately tackled by a blur of orange; a blur that turned out to be none other than Goten. Gohan was knocked back by the impact of his younger brother clamping his arms around Gohan's neck; he blinked a few times before his brain registered what had happened and who it was that was dangling from his neck.  
  
"GOTEN!! What are you going here?" Gohan pulled his brother off of his neck and placed him on the ground.  
  
"I heard Mommy yelling a little while ago and I thought that she had found out that me and Trunks wrecked the wall yesterday so I came here, 'cause I know she can't get here 'cause she can't fly."  
  
"Well neither can you bro, how'd you get here?"  
  
"Nimbus gave me a ride to Korrin's Tower and I climbed the rest of the way up, it was easy." Goten laughed as Gohan shook his head in amusement.  
  
"Well Squirt, I've got work to do. Hey you wanna help me find Mr. Piccolo?" Gohan asked merrily. The young boy's eyes lit up and he nodded his head furiously in agreement. The pair walked off towards the palace.  
  
"Hey Gohan, shouldn't you be in school?" Goten asked innocently, looking up at his older brother questioningly as they walked towards the palace.  
  
"Hey Goten; how'd you put a hole in the wall?" Gohan smiled slyly at his little brother, whose face had paled considerably as he lowered it to the ground.  
  
"Umm..."  
  
"Don't worry Squirt, but if you won't tell then neither will I." They walked into a large room and found Mr. Popo, Dende, and Piccolo waiting for them. Gohan was a little shocked by the fact that they seemed to be waiting for him, but didn't say anything. Goten on the other hand had run up to Piccolo and was happily tugging on his cape as he chanted "Mr. Piccolo, Mr. Piccolo," over and over again. Gohan mentally laughed at his brother's antics but showed no outward emotion in fear of upsetting Piccolo.  
  
"Gohan, I knew would be coming but why are here so soon, don't you have class or something?"  
  
"Yeah, but I left early, couldn't concentrate, with everything that happened..." Gohan trailed off and looked at his younger brother who had stopped his chant and was now starting at Gohan intently.  
  
"What's going on Big Brother?"  
  
"Goten," Mr. Popo said in his high-pitched (creepy...) voice, "why don't you come with me I have a new toy that you can play with." Goten's gazed shifted to Mr. Popo as he heard the word "toy" come out of his mouth. Goten ran over to Mr. Popo's side and followed the genie into another room of the palace.  
  
"We haven't had any progress yet Gohan," Piccolo said gravely. "We spoke to King Yemma and King Kai but neither knew anything about it."  
  
"But," Dende chimed in, "King Yemma did say that there were some weird things going on in Other World, and that some of his workers haven't been checking in, but it could just be that they are lazy." Dende said this last part rather sarcastically. (AN: I know that this is heaven and that HFIL is hell, but Other World sounds cooler so I'll be using Other World to describe heaven. But, since I hate the initials HFIL, I will use the term hell to describe it instead of HFIL.)  
  
"Well, could there be something, or maybe someone, in Other World that could override your powers Dende?"  
  
"That's a good possibility, compared to some of the powers of the past what I can do is comparative to what a normal human can do against you, but I don't know who it could be or why they would do this. I mean, why go after you, at least like this? Whoever this is probably has enough power to take over this world, if not the universe, even if it is just a spirit. Whoever this is has proven they have the power to manipulate this world, but why would they do something as insignificant as force you to do a project on Cell? Not that I'm demeaning your feelings on the matter, but it seems rather... strange, and pretty small scale."  
  
"Gohan, I think you need to be on guard. This guy could just be playing with you, trying to distract you while he gets in to a position to do what he really wants to do." Gohan nodded solemnly at his former teacher's advice. "For now just go back to what you were doing, but be careful Kid, I don't want to have to save your life again. We'll come to you the minute we have any more information" Piccolo and Gohan smiled slightly at each other. Gohan then said his farewells to the two Nameks and went outside looking for Goten.  
  
Goten, in the meanwhile, had grown bored of his new toy, a small plastic windmill. Mr. Popo had left to tend to his garden and Goten was sitting in an empty room by himself, so he decided to explore the Lookout. He had been walking around in the back hallways of the palace for at least five minutes when he saw a shadow cross in front of him. He quickly ran to catch who ever it was, hoping the person would play with him.  
  
"You should not be back here," a voice from the shadows whispered.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't know. Who are you?"  
  
"I am a shadow of the past... Please, don't tell anyone that I'm here. You see kid, I'm planning a surprise for someone and if he knows that I'm here it will ruin the surprise. So don't tell anyone that I'm here, ok?"  
  
"Uhh. I guess I can do that, but only if you give me a cookie."  
  
"I am sorry, I don't have a cookie with me, but I give you my word as a warrior, I will get you one. You are a very devious little child, how very odd."  
  
"OK! Umm. what's de-ve-nus mean?" Goten asked but the figure had vanished.  
  
"Goten, where are you?" Goten heard his brother's call and ran off towards the sound of his voice.  
  
"Where'd you run off to Squirt?"  
  
"I was playing with a shadow, he promised me a cookie if I kept a secret, but he never gave me the cookie." Goten frowned, but Gohan laughed, amused by his brother's vivid imagination and the two left the Lookout to return home.  
  
When they returned Goten had to listen to a rant from his mother about how he's not allowed to leave with out telling her and how she was so worried about where he was. Goten was punished with only half his normal amount of food, and to think, Chichi hadn't even found the hole in the wall yet. Gohan, after eating dinner went to his room and looked over his project. He then proceeded to call Videl and get the assignments that he had missed.  
  
"Hey Videl, its Gohan."  
  
"Oh Gohan, how are you feeling?"  
  
"I'm fine... I was just wondering what assignments I missed after I left?"  
  
"Actually there were none, which is good considering that we have that history assignment. Did you ask your mom about this weekend?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, she said it was ok with her, so you guys are welcome for the night on Friday."  
  
"Good, Erasa and Sharpner are here now and they seem excited about it, well at least Erasa's excited. Sharpner's still in pain from the beating he got from me and Erasa for hitting you on the head with that tennis ball... Hey Gohan, are you sure you're ok, cause you sound a little out of it?"  
  
"No, I'm fine, just a little distracted, and stressed right now, that's all; this assignment is rather... coincidental."  
  
"I know, who ever would have guessed that we'd end up with the assignment that my dad was actually a part of, talk about luck. Actually, I take that back this wasn't lucky, easy yes, lucky no. But why are you stressing over it?"  
  
"Just 'cause its strange how we got the project that would send us out here to the area I live in, just an odd coincidence. Any other group would have to make other arrangements."  
  
"I guess, but I have to go now Gohan, see you in school tomorrow."  
  
"Bye Videl." Gohan hung up the phone and put his head in his hands. He hadn't lied to Videl; he was stressed out. *Why me? Why now? My life was just getting to be normal, well as normal as a half alien, superhero's life can get. Man, I need to get some sleep.* Gohan shut off his light and went to sleep early.  
  
Out in main part of the house Goten saw his brother's lights go out. Even though he had been told by his mother, who had gone to bed also, that he could only stay up until Gohan went to sleep or he wouldn't have any breakfast in the morning, he decided that that hole in the wall needed to be fixed a little better than it was, assuring that she would never find it. He stuffed newspaper in the hole and began covering it in super glue to flatten it out, praying that his mother wouldn't find out. He finally stopped gluing when the hole was mostly evened out, then placed a picture in front of it so you couldn't tell it was ever there. Pleased with his night's work Goten walked into the kitchen hoping to find a snack that he could eat without his mother noticing in the morning. He was shocked to find the largest cookie he had ever seen sitting on the kitchen table, next to it was a note:  
  
For Goten,  
  
As I promised, this is for your silence.  
  
Goten was ecstatic, he took the chocolate chip cookie, which was almost as large as the table itself, and ate it within a minute. After he had devoured every last crumb, he went into the room he shared with Gohan and drifted off into a happy sleep, his enormous stomach filled by the cookie he had just eaten.  
  
RANDOM FACT: Time in the Dragon ball world seems relative. At the beginning of DBZ Gohan is four years old, he spends a year in the wilderness making him five. It takes 130 days to call upon the Namekian dragon making a total of 260 days that they spend on earth, and considering that they had been in space and on Namek before that, the other 105 days could have easily passed, making it about another year and Gohan six years old. It takes another year for Goku to return making Gohan seven, then they train for three years so he is eleven (that is if you count the year in the Room of Spirit and Time). Then they say that seven years have passed (Goten is seven or so they say), making Gohan eighteen (seventeen if you didn't count that year)... But then you have the manga that says he's sixteen when he starts high school.What the hell is wrong with this picture?? And this is only one example of the odd time interpretation...  
  
AN: He he. Who is this mysterious person? Feel free to email me with a guess. Oh and here's the imaginary cookie I promised before... huh, I forgot to tell you it was imaginary? Sorry 'bout that. Ok now go down and REVIEW!!!! 


	5. Meet the Saiyans

AN: I had the most brilliant idea at 3 AM and I discovered the identity of the mysterious shadow, I am so HAPPY!! This chapter will be a little Gohan torture for all you fans out there, nothing too big, I think that a little comic relief is good every here and there though. Thank you all for the reviews, I feel so loved. Here are some more imaginary cookies for you for all your reviewers. Thank you. Don't forget to review at the end. SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 5 Meet the Saiyans  
  
Gohan walked into school the next day, his feeling of deed growing with each step he took toward the large building. He sat down at his usual desk rather glumly, and barely heard what the others were saying to him all day. He went to class, and did the work he had to do, yet did so without even know what exactly it was that he was doing at all. The only thing he could think of was the newest enemy, one they didn't even know the identity of, the one that had taken it upon himself to torture Gohan, with a school project of all things. Granted, if he told this to anyone in his class they would say that all class project are tortures placed upon them by cruel, uncaring teacher, who would like nothing better then to see their students scream in the agony of actually having to do work, but then again Gohan was not one to be so easily tortured, he actually found school work fun, not to mention easy.  
  
"Hey Gohan, you in there? HELLO?" Videl, after five minutes of screaming, finally managed to snap Gohan out of his daze. He blinked then turned and looked at her with rather unenthusiastic smile on his face. Taking the first show of emotion she had seen out of him all day as evidence that he was now paying attention, she continued. "Ok Gohan, we're all going over to stay the night at your house so we can work on this project, but I was wondering... How we're going to get there? None of us are allowed to drive that far away and my copter's too small to seat us all so I can't fly there. So, how are we gonna get there?"  
  
"Umm... Well my normal ride is too small for us all to fit."  
  
"Can't you get another one, cause we all need to get there Gohan, it's your responsibility."  
  
"Hey, how did this become my responsibility? Staying at my house was all your guys' idea... Well, I think I can get a capsule copter big enough for all of us to use, we'll have to walk to my friend's place after school though."  
  
"Gohan, it is after school..." Gohan did the Son smile and laughed, embarrassed. Videl and Sharpner rolled their eyes at him as they all followed Gohan out of the school and into the bustling streets of the city.  
  
The quartet walked around the city, trying to keep up with Gohan's quick pace, for fifteen minutes before Gohan stopped in front of a large wall. The rest of the group was confused, especially after they looked up and read the lettering on the side of the large yellow dome behind the fence, a sign that read "Capsule Corps".  
  
"Hey Gohan why are we stopping I thought we were going to visit a friend of yours?"  
  
"Uhh... maybe you guys should wait here. My friends don't exactly take kindly to uninvited guests, especially ones like you guys."  
  
"No way," Videl piped up, "there is this crazy guy who lives here; he has some obsession with blowing things up and the President of the company is this recluse who just builds all these crazy inventions all day, the number of explosions that come out of this place on a daily basis are innumerable. If the security people find us out here we could get into major trouble."  
  
"Well, would you rather go inside?"  
  
"What are you talking about Gohan?" Videl asked, becoming highly annoyed with Gohan's antics, "No one gets in that place, even my dad has never been allowed inside, and he's famous. The owner has this thing against him, I think, 'cause he walked by here once and all of a sudden the ground in front of him was blown to bits." Gohan laughed mentally at this, *Hmm, must have been Vegeta having fun, or possibly Trunks working on his aim. Either way they would have had too much unwanted attention if they had accidentally succeeded, Bulma would have been pissed by that one.* Outwardly though he only sighed and turned to the keypad that was next to the door. "And I've heard that if you type the wrong code into that keypad then it will explode and set off the alarms." As she spoke she slowly backed away from Gohan, who was still smiling rather oddly. At her words Sharpner and Erasa also backed away from Gohan, looking at him like he was insane. Gohan watched his friend's reactions for a moment before turning to the keypad and typing a code into it. The trio in the background cringed in anticipation of the explosion, but the only thing they heard was the "Whoosh" as the air-locked doors slowly opened and the computerized voice coming from the intercom above the keypad. They blinked in confusion as they heard the computerized voice say "Welcome to Capsule Corp. We hope you enjoy your stay here. Have a nice day." Gohan walked in the door and disappeared, his friends, on the other hand, just stood there, motionless. Moments later Gohan reappeared and shoved his friends through the entrance with ease, the doors shutting and locking behind them.  
  
*What am I doing bringing them in here? Dende, if you have any sympathy for my situation, please keep Vegeta and Trunks away from my friends. PLEASE!* Gohan led his three friends thru the halls of CC (AN: That's Capsule Corp for all you people that didn't know that already.) and gave them a few warnings as they went.  
  
"What Videl said before was almost right; there is this creepy guy here with a passion for blowing things up. He's kinda a former mass murder." Gohan laughed at his own statement but stopped when he realized his friends hadn't joined him; they were still gawking at him for being able to enter the fortress-like compound. "Anyway, make sure that you don't wander off, insult anyone, Sharpner I'm talking to you, or touch anything at all."  
  
Videl's head was spinning *How does a naïve boy from the mountains know a family as rich and powerful as the Briefs? Maybe that's why he treats me like I'm no one special, because he knows people richer and more powerful than my father. What the hell? I don't understand, first that baseball player and now the owners of Capsule Corp. He'll defiantly have to explain this later, or I'll beat the crap out of him.* As Videl thought of beating Gohan up she had a nagging feeling that there was some reason why she shouldn't, but since she couldn't actually think of any of these reasons why she would feel that way she shook of the feeling and resolved to beat the truth out of Gohan if he wouldn't tell it to her willingly. She smiled at that thought and returned her attentions to what Gohan was saying, she re-entered reality just in time to hear the end of Gohan's warnings.  
  
Suddenly two blurs, one blue and one orange, came down the hall faster than any of them could see and tackled Gohan, but since he had seen them coming a mile away he had braced himself for the impact, so all the two children did was end up hanging off of him as he stood in front of his friends. The two children clamped onto Gohan's arms and started bombarding him with requests to protect them or hide them. After a moment though, they noticed the other teenagers standing behind Gohan, and let go of Gohan's arms to get a better look at the trio.  
  
"Gohan, my mom's gonna kill you. You know how dad reacts to people like them." Trunks spat the last word like "they" were the scum of the universe, which to certain Saiyan royals, they were.  
  
"Yeah Gohan, why're you here?" Goten chimed in oblivious to his best friend's disgust at their presence.  
  
"Well actually we're here to see Bulma, I need to borrow something. And, for your information Trunks, I only brought them inside because if they were found outside without the proper protection, so to speak, then they'd probably end up dead." Trunks rolled his eyes at Gohan's statement, knowing full well that it was true. If his dad saw anyone he didn't like hanging around his home, he would kill the person. "Goten, what are you doing here anyways, Mom doesn't usually allow you to come over here when Vegeta's around."  
  
"Yeah, she was really acting weird today; she said that I can stay here all night and all day tomorrow too."  
  
"Well have fun Squirt, and don't play any pranks that could get you killed." *That'll keep him out of my hair at least. Thank you Mom!*  
  
Goten smiled innocently, "Too late for that one Big Brother, Trunks had this great idea of..."  
  
"I don't want to know!" Gohan interrupted, "Hey Trunks, where's your mom at, by the way?"  
  
"Umm... I think that she's working in her lab, she usually isn't anywhere else anyways, but my dad is in the GR although once he finds out what we did we're dead meat."  
  
"That's why we were running away so quickly, 'cause we don't want him to find us. I wanna live to turn eight, please help us Gohan."  
  
"Don't worry bro. The two of you are too fast for him to catch, don't worry. And if he does catch you it's your own fault for playing a prank on him, you should know by now that Vegeta doesn't have a sense of humor," Gohan smiled at his brother, whose look of fear had instantly turned into a grin, one that was almost painfully reminiscent of Goku.  
  
"Uhh... Big Brother, I think the weird people behind you are sick." Gohan suddenly turned towards his friends, having forgotten that they were even there to witness the exchange between himself and the two children.  
  
"Oh yeah. Videl, Sharpner, Erasa; this is my little brother Goten and his friend Trunks." The teens continued to stare at the two boys and Gohan, "Trunks is Bulma's son and can sometimes be an arrogant brat, so you can ignore any rude comments that come out of his mouth."  
  
"Yeah whatever. Am I glad I don't have a nerd like you for a brother," Trunks said callously. Goten got a hurt look on his face and was about to argue that Gohan wasn't a nerd, when Trunks cut in, "Let's go play with my new toys, Goten."  
  
"Oo! Toys! Bye Gohan!" Goten had to yell his farewell to his brother down the hall seeing as he and Trunks had already bolted away to have fun. Gohan waved to them and rolled his eyes before turning to face his friends who looked pale from the shock of seeing, or not seeing, the boy's speed.  
  
Videl was about to demand an explanation from Gohan when suddenly there was a flash of yellow light followed by the sounds of a large explosion. Videl, Sharpner and Erasa all ducked as a shockwave blasted down the hallway throwing things everywhere. Gohan, on the other hand, just stood there, in the middle of the hallway, looking annoyed. *Vegeta, what are you doing? And I do mean besides blowing up the GR, AGAIN!! I could kill you for this. Oh Kami, what am I going to do?*  
  
Videl stood up after the shock wave had passed; it was then that she noticed the Gohan was standing in the same position he had been in before the explosion. "Gohan, what the HELL was that?" Gohan turned and faced his friends. Erasa and Sharpner were clinging to each other like it was the end of the world, and Videl was standing in front of Gohan, her hands on her hips and her face contorted into a angry scowl. "Seriously, you weren't even fazed by that massive explosion that just came through here. Why not, Gohan?"  
  
"Umm... well you see..." Gohan put his hand behind his head and smiled sheepishly in the classic Son smile. He was at a loss for what to say to his friends, all of who were staring at him intently. "It was nothing, really Videl. It's just that around here you have to get used to the explosions."  
  
"What do you mean Gohan? I know that there are explosions from here all the time by why exactly are there explosions; is there some mad bomber who lives here or something? What's REALLY going on?" *More like a mad Prince, not to mention a mad scientist... wait that's it!*  
  
"Um, no Videl. It's just that with all the scientific experiments that go on here sometimes wires get crossed or chemicals aren't mixed right and then things kinda go, boom. There are a lot I know, but that's only because of all the different experiments going on in there, some of which are very experimental making them very dangerous."  
  
"Well, that makes perfect sense, doesn't it Videl?" Erasa said as she left Sharpner's clutches and went to calm Videl down before the young crime fighter killed "her" Gohan.  
  
"Yeah, Erasa I guess it does." *But that doesn't mean that I believe you Gohan, I will get to the bottom of this, whatever the bottom may be.*  
  
They began to walk down the halls once more, following Gohan a little bit closer than they had before the explosion, their eyes constantly darting around, careful not be caught too close to the next explosion. Gohan carefully avoided any halls that would connect to the GR; the last thing he wanted to happen was for his friends to meet up with an extremely ticked off Vegeta. He walked quickly as he made his way to one of Bulma's labs and opened the door.  
  
The room was covered in machine parts and papers. There were shelves on the walls lined with parts that were either never finished, or destroyed somehow. The tables were covered in mounds of papers and yet more parts of things not quite in one piece. The only thing that looked like it could be a real finished project was a large machine covered in a tan colored tarp.  
  
"Bulma!" Gohan called out, searching for the blue haired woman in the immense lab. Videl, Erasa, and Sharpner looked in amazement at all the odd things that were scattered about the room. It was only when Videl went to lift the tarp did Bulma appear, as if out of nowhere.  
  
"If you touch that, young lady, I will make sure you die a slow and painful death, and trust me I know some people who specialize in that." Videl turned to tell the woman off. She was the daughter of Satan Hercule and no one talked to her like that. But when Videl turned, she was shocked to find herself facing the President of Capsule Corps herself, and the woman standing before Videl was nothing that the young girl expected a reclusive scientist to look like. She was wearing a short red dress and a pale yellow jacket with the Capsule Corps logo on the sleeve. Her blue hair was hanging straight down framing her flawless face, one that was currently contorted into a look of utmost anger. The anger faded, however, when she saw Gohan standing in the back of the lab smiling at them.  
  
"Gohan!" Bulma ran up to the boy, gave him a big hug, and whispered in his ear, "Now is not the time to have outsiders here, Vegeta's gonna be on a rampage after that last explosion I heard." She broke away from Gohan and resumed talking at her normal volume. "What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in a while, and now you pop up in my lab with a group of strangers. What do you need this time?" Gohan did the Son smile and laughed nervously. "Oh that means trouble! What's going on Gohan, and, would you introduce me to your nice friends over there who are staring at me?"  
  
Gohan looked over her shoulder and noticed his friends truly were staring at the two of them as they talked. "Oh, sorry about that Bulma. Umm... that's Erasa over there, and that's Sharpner. Oh, and the girl you just screamed at is Videl."  
  
"Videl, now I remember why you looked slightly familiar. You're Mr. Satan's daughter, hmm. Gohan, make sure that Vegeta never finds out. I'll never here the end of it if he finds out that anyone related to Mr. Satan is in this house. So what did you come here for kiddo, I know you weren't dumb enough to just come over for a tour." She paused before adding jokingly, "That is unless you want them dead or something."  
  
"Yeah Bulma, that's it," Gohan rolled his eyes at her. "Actually, I was wondering if I could borrow a ride to get us all out to my house."  
  
"Oh yeah, Chichi told me that you were working on a project about..." She trailed off and lowered her head apologetically.  
  
"So," Gohan picked up trying to act very cheerful, "can I borrow one of the planes you have?"  
  
"I've got a brilliant idea, of course all my ideas are brilliant but anyway, why don't I let you try out a new experiment I'm working on?" She bent over to look through some cabinets. During this whole exchange Gohan's friends had actually remained silent. Videl was too busy with her own thoughts to speak; she was trying to think up a reason someone like Gohan would be so intimate with the most influential person in the world. Erasa had been rendered speechless in awe of the woman before her. She had thought that that kind of combination of beauty and intelligence existed only in TV and the movies, never in real life. Sharpner, however, was staring at her open mouthed, almost drooling. When she leaned over he almost died of shock, and probably would have too, had it not been for the sudden impact of a fist against his face.  
  
Vegeta had entered Bulma's lab looking for her, it was her job after all to repair the GR. When he entered he saw the boy that was gawking at HIS woman. He restrained himself when he punched the boy but the human's body still flew into the wall of the lab. Sharpner hit the wall with a crunch and he slumped to the ground, moaning in pain. Everyone in the room turned to see what the commotion was about. They all looked at Vegeta like he was some sort of diminutive, psychopathic alien bent on ruling the cosmos, which was truer then the three human teens realized, as he glared angrily at the boy's contorted figure.  
  
"Vegeta what was that for?" Bulma demanded angrily.  
  
"He was staring at you inappropriately," Vegeta said as he walked up to Sharpner and grabbed the collar of the boy's shirt. Vegeta then proceeded to lift him into the air, and slam him into the wall, "and if you ever do that again brat I will kill you. Actually, I'm in a rather bad mood, so maybe I'll kill you now." Erasa gasped and covered her eyes at the harsh tone the man used as he threatened her friend. Videl, on the other hand, was fuming.  
  
"Who do you think you are buddy? You can't just go around and kill people when you're having a bad day." Vegeta turned and smirked at the girl before responding.  
  
"Who's going to stop me girl, you? I don't think so. Humans," Vegeta spat as he dropped Sharpner's whimpering form to the ground, "you're all so weak. And yet, you have the gall to challenge me. I do respect your courage though, and for that I won't kill your friend or you for that matter, not today anyway. You amuse me." Vegeta laughed before turning to face Bulma. "Woman, those two little devil spawns sabotaged my GR, fix it!"  
  
"Hmm... Vegeta, I think you finally got something right, Trunks is YOUR son after all and, as such, can't be a good influence on sweet Goten, so both are your creation. Making you responsible for any pain and suffering they may cause as 'devil spawns'." Vegeta looked angry for a moment before a triumphant smirk graced his features. Bulma saw his reaction but continued talking anyway, "Why can't you stop training for one minute, I constantly have to fix that thing for you. The least you could do is help me just a little."  
  
"And what would you have me do woman?" His triumphant smirk turned into an annoyed smirk at her statement.  
  
"Take Goten and Trunks out to eat while I help Gohan and his friends," Vegeta's eyes lit up at that and his eyes searched the room until they locked onto Gohan, standing in the shadows his ki lowered as much as possible, "then I'll fix your precious GR. Kami, Vegeta, sometimes I think the only reason you keep me around is to fix the GR." Vegeta returned his gaze to the blue haired woman and smirked deviously at her. Bulma rolled her eyes at him, "NOW GET OUT! I have work to do, find the boys and when you come back you can all train together, ok?" Vegeta, who was still rubbing his ears trying to stop the ringing caused by Bulma's yelling, nodded and walked up to Gohan.  
  
"Well brat, it looks like you're off the hook today. But I promise, the next time you enter this house with weaklings like those I will beat you until not even your banshee of a mother will recognize you, do you understand me boy?" Vegeta had moved in very close to Gohan attempting to intimidate him, but Gohan didn't budge.  
  
Gohan only smiled at Vegeta's, now expected, verbal assault, "Hey Vegeta, don't you have somewhere to be? I think you get to be the baby sitter of those two little monsters; that is unless you'd rather stay here and beat me up. Oh, but then you wouldn't have a GR anymore would you? Which is more important to you Vegeta, one fight or a lifetime of training?" Gohan smirked at Vegeta. Vegeta growled at him and stalked out of the room in a huff.  
  
"What just happened?" Videl asked, still confused by the whole "humans are all so weak" line. Gohan did the Son smile and turned to Bulma.  
  
"Bulma can we get going before Vegeta decides to take me up on my offer of allowing him to beat me into a pulp." Bulma burst out laughing at the thought of Gohan actually allowing Vegeta to do beat him up, she knew that Gohan's warrior, or maybe Saiyan, instincts wouldn't allow someone weaker then him, namely Vegeta to pound him into the ground. She showed him the capsule that she had fished out from the cabinets.  
  
"Sure, Gohan. The Nimbus inspired this little invention actually." Gohan raised an eyebrow at her; his curiosity peaked by this odd statement.  
  
After Erasa managed to help Sharpner to his feet, they walked outside and into the backyard of Capsule Corp. Bulma pressed the capsule and it opened, revealing the strangest car any of them had ever seen. It looked kind of like a modified jet but it was floating in the air; that was where the strangeness came in. Four clouds supported it; each one was cerulean in color and looked, to Gohan, like larger versions of his own Nimbus cloud.  
  
"And they can ride it, unlike Nimbus, right?" Gohan asked when his friends were out of hearing range, awestruck by the machine before him. Bulma nodded.  
  
"Yeah, they can ride it, I tried it myself. I never was pure hearted enough to ride Nimbus; I always envied Goku for that. Anyway, it should take you about half an hour to get to your house. And it has an autopilot so you don't have to steer. I programmed the location of your house into the computer since I had planned on testing it myself when I brought Goten back on Saturday evening. So here ya go Gohan, take good care of it for me." Gohan nodded and hugged her in thanks. "Come by and visit more often kiddo, it's kinda boring around here without the old gang around."  
  
Gohan and his friends piled into the jet and Gohan programmed it for his house. He waved good-bye to Bulma and turned to face his friends, knowing that they would spend the next thirty minutes berating him with questions about what just happened. They looked at him blankly for a moment before starting in on the questions.  
  
Once again distracted, Gohan failed to notice the cloaked figure that had leapt off the roof of the Capsule Corps building and landed on one of the clouds supporting the back of the jet.  
  
RANDOM FACT: Dragon Ball Z holds the record for the longest five minutes in anime history. Freiza said that the planet Namek would blow up in five minutes but they continued to fight for many, many episodes (I actually never counted them...) before the actual destruction of the planet.  
  
AN: I'm proud of myself, this chapter is twice as long and it took me only a little over a day to post. Thanks to everyone who wrote me with an idea, I actually may have found a way to manipulate one or more of those ideas into something I can use. Please continue to send in your ideas I may be able to use some of them. So review and feel free to ask me any questions you want answered (but make sure I can get your email to respond). SO GO AND REVIEW, NOW!!! 


	6. Questions Answered, Questions Asked

AN: Thanks for all the great reviews! My brain is slightly fried right now; I can't remember anything from the past few days. My short-term memory is shot. So forgive my slowness with this chapter and don't forget to REVIEW!! I may not remember your review five minutes after I read it but it will give me unspeakable joy while I read it. SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 6 Questions Answered, Questions Asked  
  
"Gohan you have a lot of explaining to do!" Videl was furious, to say the least. "How is it that you know Bulma Briefs?" Videl's face was bright red from anger, she could barley speak and really wanted to just punch the boy in the face.  
  
"Fine Videl, you're right I guess I should explain." Gohan sighed heavily, trying to decide how to explain everything with out explaining EVERYTHING. "Ok, my dad and she were old friends. They met when my dad was about eight and I met Bulma when I was four."  
  
"Wow Gohan, I didn't know your family was that well connected." Erasa slid up next to Gohan and interlocked her arm and his. "Do you know a lot of famous people?"  
  
"No, not really... I mean, I've never considered any of them famous at least. Oh, well, Bulma did used to date Yamcha. He met my dad at the same time he met Bulma, and, after a few problems were solved, became good friends with Bulma and my dad. Even now that Bulma and him have broken up he's still considered a good friend of ours, a part of the group."  
  
"You really do know the Bandit then?" Sharpner seemed shocked and saddened at the same time.  
  
"Yeah, I told you that. I haven't seen him in years though; I actually never even knew he was a baseball player until I saw the picture at your house Sharpner."  
  
"Man, I can't believe nerd boy is 'in' with some of the most famous people in the world. That's just not right; I was supposed to be the cool one here!" Sharpner whined loudly. He soon began to cough though; Vegeta had done a lot of damage to him. "Who was that creepy dude who threw me into a wall anyway?" Gohan laughed.  
  
"THAT was Vegeta, the psycho behind most of the explosions at Capsule Corps. He also happens to be Bulma's err... I guess he's her husband, for lack of a better term. I told you all not to insult anyone there. Vegeta doesn't make idle threats." Erasa was clinging to his arm tighter than ever, almost cutting off the circulation. She was pale and scared.  
  
"I can't believe I was in a room with someone who would actually kill people for fun!"  
  
"Don't worry. He won't kill you; he's mellowed out a lot over the years."  
  
"What did he mean when he said humans are weak?" Videl was eying Gohan very closely looking for a sign of him lying.  
  
"Well you see, Vegeta thinks he's above humans. But he calls everyone weak; he thinks he's the strongest fighter in the universe." Gohan spoke calmly, and, since he wasn't lying, Videl took him on his word. She had grown to be able to tell when he was really lying to her.  
  
"Well we all know that isn't true. My dad's the strongest fighter in the world."  
  
"Yeah," Erasa's death grip on Gohan's arm loosened as she got her confidence back. "He's not so tough I bet. I mean Gohan didn't even flinch when the scary man threatened him." Gohan rubbed his arm where Erasa had grabbed him. *That's right,* Videl thought, *He didn't even flinch, yet he says the man is dangerous. He threw Sharpner into a wall effortlessly and Gohan wasn't scared of him at all. Is he lying or what? I don't know anymore, I just don't know.* Videl watched Gohan closely as he continued to talk to Erasa and Sharpner about what had transpired that afternoon.  
  
"So what are we doing this weekend Gohan?" Videl asked after a few minutes.  
  
"Oh, well, tomorrow we have to go to the town where the shelter was built. I know the way but it is a long walk through the woods, an hour or so, two at max, to do the actual walking. When we get to the village we should probably talk to some of the people who lived there seven years ago. And then Sharpner can take pictures of the site of the shelter and then we can go back to my place and finish everything before you all have to go home." Gohan hid the nervousness in his voice rather well as he spoke about the shelter he had destroyed many years ago. *I hope no one recognizes me. What am I saying, of course no one will recognize me, my hair is black and a lot shorter than it was when I was a child. There's no way anyone can recognize me. Dende please, let no one in the village recognize me.*  
  
"Gohan, hey, we've stopped." Gohan blinked a few times before standing up and walking to the front of the ship. The land in front of him was covered in a dense forest. In the only clearing that could be seen for miles sat a small white house, Gohan's house.  
  
"We're here. I guess Bulma didn't program this thing to land. Hold on guys, this could be a little bumpy." The landing, though a little shaky, wasn't all that bad. Gohan's friends were able to walk properly afterwards, a good sign, especially since it was his first time ever using a machine to fly somewhere. They all grabbed their bags and followed Gohan to his front door. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. My mom's a little... eccentric, so just ignore anything she might say that doesn't make sense." They all looked at Gohan curiously as he spoke. *What's he hiding, is he afraid his mom might give something away?* Gohan sighed and opened the door. "Hey mom, we're here! Mom, Mom where are you?"  
  
Gohan looked all around the house but his mother was not there. He finally noticed a note on the refrigerator that read:  
  
Gohan,  
  
I realized we didn't have enough food in the house to feed you and your friends. I'll be back soon with plenty of food.  
  
Love,  
  
Mom  
  
Gohan sighed in relief, at least he could get his friends settled in before Chichi came back. He walked back over to his friends. "She's out shopping right now so why don't I show you where to put your stuff down?" He walked down the hall and opened one of the doors, inside there was two beds. "This is where you and Erasa are staying Videl," He opened the next door down the hallway, "and this is where you're gonna sleep Sharpner." They all went into their rooms and put their bags down.  
  
"Where do you sleep Gohan?" Erasa asked curiously.  
  
"I... I... Well, it doesn't matter." Gohan knew that he wasn't going to sleep that night, at least not at his house. He wanted to go meditate in the mountains and try and find out who this new enemy was. Suddenly Gohan's Saiyan hearing picked up a sound outside. He turned away from his friends and walked to the window. He got there just in time to see a figure run into the forest near his house. He tried to sense for the person's ki but felt nothing. *What the...? Either I'm seeing things and there's no one out there, or there is someone and they're masking their ki. This isn't good, what if it's a new enemy? Or even worse, an old friend, if one of the gang shows up now I'll have WAY too much explaining to do. Please Dende, let it be an animal or something, please!*  
  
"Hey Gohan, is everything all right?" Videl had come up behind Gohan and was staring out the window trying to find what he was looking at.  
  
"Yeah... Sorry Videl, I just thought I saw something out there, that's all." Gohan turned back to the group and smiled. "You guys wanna watch TV for a while until my mom gets home?" Erasa nodded vigorously and Sharpner agreed. Videl didn't say or do anything but followed the others into Gohan's living room. They sat down and turned on the TV. They flipped stations until they came across a movie that everyone could agree on. The group of friends sat there for a half an hour talking and watching the movie.  
  
"So Gohan how do like our school so far?" Erasa asked curiously.  
  
"It's a long trip but I don't mind. The class work is really easy compared to what I've been forced to study all my life."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, I learned everything we're doing in class by the time I was ten."  
  
"No way," Erasa said, sitting up in the couch to get a better look at Gohan, "you must not have had much of a social life if you spent THAT much time studying!"  
  
"It really wasn't that bad, my dad always used to make sure that I got out and had fun," Gohan's eyes flashed a look of utter pain and sadness at the thought of his father, but he quickly recomposed himself and continued, "my mom is the one obsessed with making sure I'm the smartest person on the planet."  
  
"Did she have you study at Capsule Corp or something?" Videl asked quickly, she had noticed the flash of pain in Gohan's eyes and somehow knew not to press that matter.  
  
"Oh, she'd never allow that! Bulma may be a genius but she was also a friend of my father's, which makes her dangerous to be around, at least in my mom's eyes. Besides she always thought that Vegeta would go out of his way to kill me if I ever stepped foot in that place."  
  
"Yet you didn't seem very scared of him at all," Videl asked curiously, staring at Gohan intensely as she did so.  
  
"Yeah, well my mom is really overprotective. She thinks that anyone who ever fought against my father is out to kill me. She has a hard time trusting a lot of his old friends. The only reason she even speaks to Bulma and the others is for Goten, I convinced her that he needed someone like him to friends with. It took a while for her to come around to letting him and Trunks play together, Trunks is Vegeta's son after all, but now the two of them are inseparable. Unfortunately, Trunks has influenced Goten as much as he has influenced Trunks, just don't tell my mother that," Gohan laughed slightly, "if she knew that Goten would be locked up in the house studying as much as I had to when I was a kid." Gohan smiled at his friends, who were about to continue questioning him, but they were cut off.  
  
"Gohan, are you here?" Gohan heard his mother call from the kitchen. He jumped up and ran out to the kitchen to greet his mom.  
  
"Hey mom, don't forget my friends are here. PLEASE act like a normal person."  
  
"I have to meet them," Chichi squealed with delight. She rushed into the living room and introduced herself to everyone as they introduced themselves to her.  
  
"Satan... as in Satan Hercule?" Chichi asked, astonished, when Videl revealed her identity.  
  
"Yeah, he's my dad."  
  
"Oh my... you must be rich!"  
  
"Uh.. I guess you could say that." Videl was uncomfortable with the way that Chichi was looking at her, especially after Gohan had said she was insane. Chichi continued to ask Videl questions about her home, trying to find out exactly how rich she was.  
  
"I'm Sharpner by the way." Sharpner had not introduced himself yet and had been forgotten in all the fuss about Videl's family.  
  
"Oh," Chichi exclaimed when she saw him, "What happened to your face?"  
  
"Vegeta happened, that's what," Gohan said from the doorway.  
  
"That brute, someone needs to teach him a lesson; beating up on an innocent boy." Chichi clenched her fist in anger.  
  
"Well he wasn't exactly innocent..." Gohan started.  
  
"Oh, and if he's in this bad of a mood he may take it out on my poor Goten."  
  
"Mom, Goten can take care of himself. Besides it was Goten and Trunks sabotaging the GR that put him in such a bad mood. Don't worry though Bulma knows how to deal with Vegeta, Goten's in no danger."  
  
"If he touches one hair on my poor Goten's head he'll be sorry he ever messed with me," Chichi said mock punching the air  
  
Videl looked at her for a moment, studying her posture as she spoke. "You're a fighter?" Videl said bluntly, surprised at this revelation.  
  
"Yes, I am." Chichi said regaining her composure, "I even competed in the World Tournament, but that was so long ago, before Gohan was even born..." Chichi's eyes got a dreamy far away look as she remembered her fight at the tournament.  
  
"Wow, who would've ever thought that a nerd like Gohan could be the son of a real fighter." Sharpner began to laugh, but, for the second time that day, he found himself being shoved forcefully into a wall.  
  
"Gohan is not a nerd you ignorant..." Chichi was filled with rage at the boy's attitude towards the person who REALLY saved the world seven years ago.  
  
"Mom, please," Gohan said sitting down on the couch. His mother stopped and released the boy from her grasp.  
  
"Sorry, my temper gets away from me sometimes. But if you ever insult my family again you will live to regret it." Sharpner nodded furiously, dreadfully scared of the woman standing in front of him, threatening his very existence.  
  
"Wow Gohan, everyone you know seems to be really strong. Why aren't you?" Erasa asked innocently.  
  
"Yeah Gohan, tell us," Videl asked coldly. Chichi looked at her son, whose head was bowed in contemplation.  
  
"I don't like to fight," Gohan stated simply. Videl was about to ask why he didn't like to fight when her watch beeped.  
  
"Videl, a group of thugs have taken the mayor hostage, we need your help." The voice in the watch pleaded.  
  
"I'm sorry sir, but I'm at least a five hour car drive from the city, I can't help. Please contact my father, and tell me if Saiyaman shows up." Videl looked up from her watch and smiled at Gohan. Chichi saw her son's face pale as he realized that he couldn't leave without rousing Videl's suspicions.  
  
"Gohan dear, we need some firewood so I can cook dinner. Would you be so kind to go get some?" Gohan gave his mother a grateful look as he went out the door.  
  
"I can help too." Videl jumped up to go follow Gohan, but Chichi stepped in front of her.  
  
"You will do no such thing, Videl. You are a guest and I do not allow my guests to do unnecessary work while they are in MY house." Chichi turned around and winked at Gohan, "Now hurry up!" Gohan nodded and ran out the door.  
  
A few minutes later Videl's watch beeped. "The Great Saiyaman has just arrived Videl, your father couldn't be found though, and he doesn't appear to be at home. But Saiyaman just took care of the entire situation, everyone is safe and the criminals are all in police custody." Videl thanked the officer and turned her watch off.  
  
Ten minutes later Gohan walked in with a pile of firewood. He carefully placed some in the stove and some in the fireplace before turning back to his mother and asking if there was anything else he had to do. She shook her head no and went into the kitchen to finish preparing dinner. The teens went back to their movie.  
  
The rest of the night went by smoothly; they ate dinner (Gohan less than normal so as not to raise suspicions) and, after specifying their plans for the morning, went to bed. After the three teenagers went to bed Chichi went and got Gohan the rest of his dinner.  
  
"Thanks Mom," Gohan said enthusiastically as his mother set a large mound of food down in front of him.  
  
"I like your friends Gohan, well at least Erasa and Videl. Erasa seems to like you a lot." Chichi eyed her son as she stated this mockingly.  
  
"Tell me about it," Gohan rolled his eyes.  
  
"Videl though... why are you her friend? She's Mr. Satan's daughter, that's very dangerous if you plan on keeping your past a secret."  
  
"I know Mom," Gohan finished his food in silence. He stood up and kissed his mother on the cheek, "I am going to go out and train for a while."  
  
"Not just yet Gohan," said a voice from the door. Gohan turned around to find a shadowy figure standing there. The figure stepped into the light; it was Dende. "I wanted to talk to you Gohan. We have some information I think." Gohan motioned for his friend to sit down. Dende took a seat across from Gohan and began to speak.  
  
"Many of the souls in hell are beginning to disappear. We don't know who has taken them as of yet, but neither Piccolo nor I can sense any beings that have died before. Well, except for the obvious few. So the question is where are these souls going?" Gohan looked grim. He stood up and thanked Dende for the information before excusing himself to go out to meditate.  
  
Chichi watched Gohan leave and then turned back to Dende. "Would you like something to eat Dende?"  
  
"No, thank you Miss Chichi, I don't eat, I only need water to survive."  
  
"Oh, well then let me at least get you some water." Dende nodded in agreement. Unbeknownst to them another figure was making her way down the hall. Videl had heard voices and decided to see who it was that was up. She stopped short though when she saw a green creature sitting at Gohan's kitchen table. She hid behind the wall and decided to listen to the conversation between Dende and Chichi.  
  
"I'm worried about Gohan, first that project and now this. I'm afraid that he'll go back to way he was after..." She handed Dende the glass of water and went to the sink to begin washing the many dishes left behind from Gohan's second dinner.  
  
"Don't worry Miss Chichi, Gohan is strong, I know he never forgave himself for what happened but he WILL get through this."  
  
"I hope you're right about that one, his friends from school are here and he needs to keep his cool. Did you know who he brought into this house?" Dende shook his head no, "He brought the daughter of that idiot Mr. Satan here, I may have forgiven the man for Goku's sake but I still don't trust the girl. Gohan likes her, and he might trust her, but he also trusts some of the most dangerous people with his life and the life of his brother." Videl was still listening and wanted to punch the woman if the face for insulting the man who had saved them all from Cell seven years ago, but managed to restrain herself in lieu of finding out more about the mysterious Son Gohan.  
  
"He got that trait form his father, they trust everyone at face value, and if someone says something they believe it. Goten is the same way I've noticed. It's a wonderful quality to possess, but what happened seven years ago tainted Gohan's very spirit. He may be one of the most trusting and pure hearted people on the planet, but he has common sense and knows how to handle himself better then anyone I know."  
  
"I know Dende, I know," Chichi sighed, beginning to dry and put away the dishes as she did so.  
  
Dende smiled at her lightly, "Please don't worry, the others won't allow anything else to hurt Gohan like that ever again. I need to go now; Piccolo will be worried about me. Thank you for everything." Chichi walked Dende to the door and wave good bye as he took to the sky to return to the Lookout. She closed the door and turned to go to her room. Videl silently ran down the hall and quickly entered her room. She partly closed the door, so that Chichi wouldn't see her, and watched as Chichi walked into her room and closed the door.  
  
Videl breathed a sigh of relief for the fact that she hadn't been caught eavesdropping. She sat back down on the bed and thought about what she'd just heard. *Who was that guy? And why is this project such a big deal to Gohan and everyone he knows? I wonder... what happened to him seven years ago? And why do they hate my father so much? The closer I get to Gohan the more secrets I seem to find. I have to find out what's going on with him. Why won't he tell me the truth, why does he always push me away when I try to get to know him better?* Videl drifted off into sleep still thinking about Gohan and his secrets.  
  
Dende meanwhile was on his way back to the Lookout. Suddenly a ki beam came out of nowhere and knocked him out of the sky. His limp form fell into the forest below and didn't move. A shadowy figure came up behind the Namekian and lifted him onto his shoulder. The man looked around and then took to the sky himself. He stopped at a waterfall deep in the mountains, a waterfall that he was very familiar with, and set the young Guardian of the Earth on the ground. He dug through his pockets until he found the piece of paper he was looking for and set it down on a rock. He placed another rock on the paper to keep it from plowing away and walked over to where he had left Dende. He flung the unconscious Dende back onto his shoulder and looked back to the waterfall solemnly. He did not take to the sky this time though, he knew Gohan was nearby, and that Gohan would sense his ki if he flew. The figure jumped up to the top of the cliff and ran, faster than a human eye could see, down the mountain. After he was a good distance away left the ground he flew towards Satan City. He landed in the backyard of a large domed building and went inside. A few minutes later there was a loud roar and the Capsule Corp space ship/training room was launched into space.  
  
Gohan took off from his house more worried than ever. *This new enemy has the power to steel souls? If he come with an army of dead villain from our pasts. What if Cell get resurrected? I'm not as strong as I used to be, everyone could die this time. Not just the other fighters but my mom and Goten, not to mention Videl and my other friends. They could all die and it would be entirely my fault.* Gohan stopped flying and slowly descended to the forest floor. *I can't do this. I just can't I always fail. People always end up dying; first my dad when he fought Radditz, if I had known how to fight, he never would have been able to take me; then Piccolo, he stepped in front of the blast when we fought the Saiyans, he gave his life for me, and trapped the others in the Next Dimension by doing so. Then in the fight with Cell...* Tears began to overflow Gohan's eyes as the events of that fateful day resurfaced. The pain felt fresh in his mind, like it had all happened only yesterday. *If I had only defeated Cell when I had the chance. I let my power go to my head. I guess I proved I was truly a Saiyan though, too cocky for my own good; but if I had just listened to my dad...*  
  
Gohan took to the sky once again and made his way to his mountain sanctuary, the one place that was his and his alone. His thoughts were always a little clearer there. He stopped flying and returned to the floor of the forest. He walked slowly towards his sanctuary feeling that there was something wrong. He suddenly felt a ki, faint and a long way, Vegeta was on the rampage once again. Gohan thought about going to check out what had gotten Vegeta so upset, but then thought better of it. He did NOT want to cross an angry Vegeta, and either way it was probably just his brother and Trunks that had upset him. Gohan continued on to his sanctuary and when he arrived he stopped short in surprise.  
  
Sitting on his favorite rock was a note. Gohan walked up to it slowly, wondering how it had gotten there. He picked it up and noticed his name scrawled across the envelope in a small letters. No one he knew wrote that small and with that much care, and even if he had recognized the writing, no one knew this place existed but him, so how would someone know to leave a note there for him? He took out the paper inside of the envelope and stopped breathing as he read what was written  
  
Gohan,  
  
I have taken Dende, the Guardian of the Earth, as my hostage. By now we are on our way to another planet. I know you cannot follow us now without raising your friend's suspicions. I will not harm him and I promise that all will be revealed in three days when you arrive at our location. Until then you cannot tell anyone about this. Dende's disappearance will not go unnoticed, I know, but you must not tell anyone of this note or of where you are going or Dende will die. I expect to see you alone, and prepared for a fight in three days. The coordinates for the planet shall be uploaded into the Capsule Corps backup space module tomorrow night. Take the ship then. We anxiously await your arrival.  
  
Gohan didn't know what to say or do. *I have to save Dende; but how? I can sense he's already off the planet and whoever wrote this was right, I can't leave while my friends are staying with me... I failed again, Dende was taken and whoever has him is expecting me to be ready for a fight. The enemy is strong enough to override Dende's powers and now he has Dende himself. Does he want control of the Earth? No, if that were true then he wouldn't have told me where he was going and wouldn't tell me how to follow him. But then of course maybe he wants to fight me alone away from my friends. Maybe he's trying the 'divide and conquer' approach, we are all vulnerable when we're alone. What is going on?* Gohan stood in his sanctuary, his mind racing, trying to find a way to save one of his oldest friends from the evil that had taken him. Gohan stood there for hours staring at the letter in front of him, it was only the reflection of rising sun in the water that caught his eye and woke him from his thoughts. Gohan flew quickly back to his house to prepare for the day ahead of him. He was sure he couldn't tell his mother or any of his friends about Dende's predicament, they would try to rescue the Namek, which, in turn, would spell Dende's demise.  
  
RANDOM FACT: It is pointed out by Dende in the Namek Saga that the Namekian race is asexual. They (like Goku in DB) don't recognize the difference between male and female. When referred to though masculine pronouns and nouns are used (i.e. KING Piccolo, God as opposed to Goddess, he instead of she, etc). It is also pointed out that Namekians do not eat anything, but they do drink water to sustain them, although Piccolo seems to contradict this fact when he comments on the food prepared by Chichi during the Trunks Saga ("Fish again?") as though he ate it himself...  
  
AN: Hehe isn't that the title of an episode in the Frieza saga, 'Dende's Demise'? I don't know. I would like to thank everyone for their review and for helping me to formulate some ideas for the bad guy's identity. This chapter is so long compared to my other ones but then of course a lot happened. Poor Gohan, he's even more worried than before. And why did the mysterious figure take Dende? Well you aren't going to find out yet, no matter how many times you ask. Now go down, hit the little button and REVIEW!!! 


	7. The Troubles of Friends

AN: I know Chichi was kinda OOC, especially compared to what other authors renditions of her. This is one of my favorite chapters I think, cause one of my all time favorite guest characters (who barely ever appears in fan fics) is going to be there. I just re-watched the episode of DBZ that corresponds to this chapter so I'm gonna refer directly back to it. SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 7 The Troubles of Friends  
  
Erasa, Sharpner, and Videl awoke the next morning to find Gohan and Chichi already up and finished with breakfast. Both had grim expressions on their faces, but while Chichi tried to hide her nervousness by bustling about doing frivolous cleaning, Gohan just sat at the table deep in thought. After they were feed and dressed the group gathered in the kitchen to go. Videl, Sharpner, and Erasa all wanted to bring large hiking packs but Gohan wouldn't allow it, saying so much weight would only slow them down. He did allow them to bring water canteens and a first aid kit though. With a quick good bye to Chichi they walked off into the forest, towards one of the last places Gohan ever wanted to go again.  
  
The walk was a hard one, at least for Sharpner and Erasa, they were forced to stop much more often than Gohan would have liked because of Erasa's incessant whining and Sharpner's moans of pain. Throughout the entire walk Gohan was silent, he would only speak when necessary, and even then he wouldn't saw more than a few words. Videl and Erasa were worried about him, but they wisely held their tongues.  
  
Finally, after two and a half hours of Sharpner's groaning and moaning and Erasa's complaining, they arrived at a small village hidden deep in the mountains, a village completely surrounded by a large wooden fence with only one entrance. There was a sign over the entrance to the village that read "Chazke Village". They had barely walked into the small village when person stepped in front of them and blocked their path.  
  
"Who are you people and what is your business in this town?" The young girl who spoke was younger than the teens, although apparently not by much. She had a determined look on her face and her green eyes were ablaze with suspicion and warning to the strangers she perceived to be a threat to her home. Sharpner, Videl, and Erasa didn't know what to say to the girl, they just stood there, dumbfounded. The girl scanned the group's expressions, trying to determine their purpose, finally her eyes locked onto Gohan, standing behind the group, trying hard not to be noticed. She glared at him intently for a moment before speaking again, "Never mind, I know why you're here. Is this your idea of soon Gohan?"  
  
Gohan blinked, trying to think of a reason that the girl would know him by name, and then it hit him, "LIME!?" Gohan looked at the girl before him. Her dark mahogany hair was now all the way down her back and was being held in one braid instead of the two she had when they had first met, but her eyes were the same, the same anger, the same determination, the same pride, they were the eyes of the young mischief maker that Gohan had befriended all those years before. "Wow Lime it is you. Sorry I haven't been by in a while but some things kinda came up."  
  
"I know," Lime's glare softened and she bowed her head, "I saw it all on the television. By the way what happened to your hair last time I saw you ..." Gohan had clamped his hand over her mouth so she couldn't speak.  
  
"Guys, this is Lime, she's an old friend of mine. Lime, these are my friends, Videl, Erasa, and Sharpner." Gohan let go of Lime's mouth and gave her a big hug so he could quietly whisper in her ear, "Don't say anything else about what happened back then, please. I'll explain later." Gohan pulled away from his friend and she smiled at him, embarrassed.  
  
She looked at him for a moment before her smile faded into a look of startled sadness, "Gohan, it's really odd you choose today to visit, maybe it was fate, but you have to come with me. You have to come right now!"  
  
"Why Lime, what's wrong?" Gohan looked at her again and noticed that tears were beginning to well up in her eyes.  
  
"It's... It's Grandpa, he's... Please Gohan, I think he would want to see you again before he dies." Gohan stopped, shocked at what she had just said.  
  
"Ok, guys do you want a little lunch before we start?" His friends eagerly agreed, famished by the long walk through the wilderness. The group set off for Mr. Lao's store in silence. When the arrived they found the place looked rather unkempt, like no one was living there anymore.  
  
"I'm sorry for the mess but since Grandpa got sick I haven't been able to keep the store in shape by myself." Lime went and got some food for Gohan's friends. While they were eating Lime took Gohan back to see her grandfather.  
  
"Mr. Lao? It's me Gohan." The elderly man was lying in his bed completely covered in a thick woolen blanket, yet he was shivering like it was freezing.  
  
The man opened his eyes and spoke, "Gohan, you've changed a lot since you were last here. I want you to do me a favor Gohan; I would like you to look after Lime for me. I know you are strong enough to protect her and since her parents died..." Lime started screaming at him.  
  
"No, Grandpa, you can't die... you just can't." She laid her head down next to him and continued crying.  
  
"Please Lime. There is nothing anyone can do, not even senzu beans can heal me, I am old and there is nothing that can be done." Gohan looked at him in shock. *How does HE know about the senzu beans?*  
  
"Don't look so surprised my boy. I have lived in these mountains all my life, from the moment you told me your name, Son Gohan, I knew you were a very special young man. You see, I was one of the associates of the great martial art's master, Gohan," Mr. Loa stated softly. Gohan was surprised by this revelation, but after a moment recognized it as the truth, Mr. Lao was a great martial artist, obviously one of the best at least among humans before the Z fighters came around, and Gohan had to have had some friends or students who were great martial artists before he found Goku stranded in the woods. "I knew you were destined for greatness Gohan, even before that little show of power seven years ago." Mr. Lao started coughing uncontrollably.  
  
"Mr. Lao, I... I'm not a great warrior like you. I was just someone who did what I had to do. But, you have my word that Lime will be safe."  
  
"I know she will be, you are the only person she has ever warmed up to, outside of her family that is. Take care." Lime was still crying on her grandfather's bed and didn't even listen as they spoke about her. After a few minutes Gohan took Lime by the shoulders and lead her out of the room. At the door they both turned and bid farewell to the kind old man, one last time. They solemnly walked back to the others, who had just finished eating. Lime silently took their plates and went to wash them. Gohan just plopped down onto a chair and buried his head in his hands.  
  
"What's wrong Gohan?" Videl asked hesitantly.  
  
"He's dead, Mr. Lao is dead." All three pairs of eyes widened in shock before lowering slowly to the ground in respect.  
  
"I hate to ask you this, guys, but do you mind if I stay here while you go and talk to the villagers? I want to help Lime clean up this place; I don't think she should be alone. I'm probably the only friend she's got, and she needs a friend about now." They all nodded in silent agreement and stood up.  
  
"We'll be back in a few hours, ok Gohan? Then we can head up to the site of the shelter."  
  
"Ok, Lime knows the way and a little about the history of the shelter so she can probably be our guide." Everyone agreed at this and the three friends left to interview the villagers.  
  
"Gohan," Lime walked up behind him a moment later, "What's gonna happen to me now?"  
  
"Don't worry, I'll figure something out. Will you be alright?"  
  
Lime nodded. "I knew this day was coming, he died with no regrets, I know he's in a better place now. It's hard, but I know he's gonna watch over me, he may be gone physically but his spirit will stay with me forever." Gohan smiled at her.  
  
"What say you and me fix up this place a little and get some food?" Lime nodded and smiled at him deviously.  
  
"After what I saw you do on TV, cleaning shouldn't be too hard. Oh, that reminds me, what happened to your hair?"  
  
Gohan smiled again and suddenly turned Super Saiyan. "Is this better?"  
  
"Much," she said as she handed him a broom. A second later the floor was dust free and everything on the shelves were straightened and organized. "Whoa! You're faster than I thought! That was so amazing." Gohan returned to his normal state and put the broom down.  
  
"I can't stay in that from though. My friends don't know what happened at the Cell Games seven years ago. They think that Videl's father, Mr. Satan, beat Cell, and they don't know the identities of the other fighters, my friends and I, but they call us fakes so we don't want to reveal ourselves just to be ridiculed."  
  
"I knew that he took credit for it," Lime shook her head in disgust, "but I didn't know that anyone actually believed him. I mean you and your father went so fast that no one could even see the fights. How is your dad anyway?"  
  
"He's... he's dead." Lime gasped, Gohan decided to tell his story, his eyes to the ground. He told Lime everything that happened, everything that he had tried to forget for the past seven years. It took him twenty minutes to work his way through the story, "So you see, he died because of me. When I fought Cell I got too cocky, I wanted to make Cell suffer for all the pain he had caused, I didn't finish Cell off when I had the chance. My dad, he had to bail me out; he transported Cell off the planet to stop him from blowing it up. He died, and I failed."  
  
"Gohan, that's not true. You are not a fighter; you're much too gentle. It goes against your nature to fight. Your father had to know you weren't a fighter, even if he didn't want to believe it. It wasn't your fault Gohan, it was Cell, it's entirely his fault, all of it. He killed my parents, he killed tons of other defenseless people, and HE killed your father!" Lime was yelling now, tears were once again flowing from her green eyes.  
  
"Lime..." Gohan started, but stopped as he looked at her  
  
She looked at Gohan, her eyes shining with tears, "IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT! Just like there was nothing I could do to save my grandfather there was nothing else you could have done to stop Cell, except what you did do. You don't know what effects trying to kill Cell off earlier would have had; it could have made things worse for all you know. You survived as did the rest of the people of this world, and your father's spirit is still with you, watching over you, just as I know my grandfather and my parents are watching over me." Gohan smiled and nodded once. It had been a long time since he had spoken about the events of seven years ago, since everyone had only tried to tell him that it hadn't been his fault but never really explained to him why they thought so, as such he hadn't even remotely believed it; that is until right then. A few tears had escaped Lime's eyes and had created streaks down her cheeks. No tears were flowing now though as her eyes were closed as a look of relief spread across her face.  
  
*She must have been saying that to convince herself of it just as much as she was trying to convince me,* Gohan thought as he watched Lime take sigh and open her eyes the tears beginning to silently flow once again, *I know she is in pain because of her grandfather's death even if she doesn't let it show. Maybe she just needed to say it out loud for once. She did have a point though, but how big of a point I just don't know yet.*  
  
"Lime, I appreciate you trying to convince me of that, I really don't know how to thank you for listening to me when you've had such a bad day yourself. But what I can do is keep my promise to your grandfather," Lime looked at him curiously, wiping the tears from her eyes, "when I leave today you're coming with me, at least for a few days, we have a spare bedroom... or at least we will once my friends leave this afternoon. It won't be permanent..."  
  
"Alright Gohan," Lime smiled slightly, "I'll come stay with you under one condition, you have to tell me why you're here." Gohan hit his hand up against his head.  
  
"I almost forgot about that. We're here on a school project, a project about Cell; we have to do research on the shelter. Lime, you have to help me with this. Does anyone remember who I am?"  
  
Lime took a moment to ponder the question before responding, "Well most of the villagers watched the Cell Games and they many thought that they had recognized you. Grandpa and I were they only one who remembered your name though. Everyone else was in shock from seeing you blow up the shelter like you did and so the details of your little speech were kinda fogged over." Lime giggled.  
  
"Ok, so I guess they'll know one of the "mysterious fighters" from the Cell Games was here, but they can't know it was me, ok?"  
  
"Sure Gohan. Actually, why don't I offer to take you all on a tour of the shelter, or what's left of it."  
  
Gohan smiled deviously, "I was counting on you saying that."  
  
"I was thinking; it's really odd that YOU of all people would get stuck with this assignment." Gohan sighed heavily, and began to tell her about their new enemy. He even told her about Dende's kidnapping, even though it was against the kidnapper's wishes, but Gohan knew he could trust Lime. She wouldn't be able to do anything to help anyway, so it didn't matter really.  
  
"You mean to tell me that KAMI, an alien who just happens to be one of your best friends, has been KIDNAPPED? So... you're going after him aren't you?" Gohan nodded, "You'd better be careful, I mean what kind of super villain tells you where to find him? Isn't that kinda stupid?"  
  
"That's exactly what I was thinking; I'm hoping that this guy is just really dumb and didn't think, and not really strong and cocky about it."  
  
Lime laughed, "I know what you mean, but how often do you find an evil idiot, they're always evil geniuses. But, then again, I guess we are way overdue to be taken over by a weak, idiotic moron with no brains or strength, just some luck." Gohan and Lime finished cleaning the store, waiting for the others to return. They talked about everything they could think of, from the events of the past seven years, to what they want to do with the rest of their lives. After they had finished cleaning and eating, they decided to look for the others. Gohan and Lime looked all around the village but couldn't find the teens anywhere. They were defiantly getting worried.  
  
Finally, Lime spoke up with an idea, "Gohan, maybe someone told them about Mr. Bourbon. He still lives a ways outside of the town and, get this, the house is made of parts of the shelter. All his money was inside the shelter, and after you destroyed it he was left completely broke. So he lives in a shack." The two of them looked at each other for only a moment before they peeled over laughing. "Come on let's go check it out Gohan."  
  
It took them only a few minutes to get to the heap of scrap metal the Mr. Bourbon was forced to call his home. There they found Videl, Sharpner, and Erasa talking to the man. "He had these evil green eyes and his hair looked like it was on fire." Mr. Bourbon was shaking as he described the mysterious child to the three teens. "I swear he was a demon from the underworld, he blew up my shelter with just a flash of light." He was on the verge of tears at this point, just the thought of that boy was traumatizing to him.  
  
"He was not a demon you stupid old man! He was a hero, he saved everyone from you and from Cell!" Lime yelled, causing the three teens to turn around and see their friend coming up to meet them.  
  
"That's only because you were a friend of his. Even the world's greatest mercenary, General Tao was scared to death of that 'child'. I mean he could FLY, that fact alone tells you that there was something not right about that boy." Lime stuck her tongue out at the aging man and he stormed off.  
  
"Did you guys find the information we need?"  
  
"I think so, everyone who was here back then remembers THAT day. Apparently about eight days before the Cell Games a boy showed up in the village. He destroyed the shelter and told everyone that if he could do that to the shelter then 'imagine what Cell could have done'. Unfortunately, no one remembers his name." Videl seemed angry about this, almost as if the boy's name was the most important fact.  
  
"Heh," Gohan did the Son smile, "I think we should head up to the site of the shelter now. We still have to walk home and it's already two thirty, you guys defiantly don't want to be in these woods after dark." Gohan smiled and lead them back to where Lime was standing. The group then headed off up a hill to see where the shelter once stood. *Wow, Gohan's mood has done a complete one-eighty. He seems a lot happier, actually this is the best mood I've seen him in, in days.* Videl looked at her friend as her talked to Lime jovially. *It must be that stupid girl... How do they know each other anyway? Is SHE why he knew the way to this village?*  
  
"Ok, we're here," Lime finally exclaimed. Sharpner, Videl, and Erasa stared at the sight before them. There was an extremely large crater full of rubble in front of them. "We haven't touched this place in seven years. The villagers decided not to remove this pile of junk because they were so grateful to the boy."  
  
"Mr. Bourbon said you were friends with him." Lime nodded, smiling to herself. "So tell us, who was he?"  
  
Lime turned to face Videl, "I can't tell you that. You see, the boy, he... if he wanted to be known he would have come forward after the Cell games. I won't tell anyone who he is, not even you." Videl opened her mouth to complain, "I know that you would not do anything to endanger his privacy, but it is not my decision, it is not my life, so therefore his identity is not my secret to reveal." Lime turned back around and smiled so that only Gohan could see.  
  
"Sharpner go get some pictures," Videl ordered, annoyed, "Wait a sec Lime, did you just say 'he would have come forward after the Cell games'? Does that mean he really was the boy who fought Cell?" *If he's the kid from the Cell Games that means that this 'demon kid' is probably the Gold Fighter too!* Lime looked at Gohan for guidance. He gave her a small smile as a sign of approval.  
  
"Yes, it was the same boy. I know that he doesn't want to be found, so please Videl, just drop this." Videl glared at the girl but Lime didn't seem to care. "Well I guess you should know all about this shelter, but why don't I tell you all about it on the way back to Gohan's house."  
  
Videl looked shocked, "You're coming back with us?" Lime nodded happily.  
  
"I need a place to stay for a little while so Gohan said I could stay with him. My parents were killed by Cell when he attacked our village nine years ago, (AN: I'm making this number up. Lime looked a lot younger when they show Cell attacking, so I'm saying that it was about two years before Gohan showed up.) and now that my grandpa is dead I have no one left." Lime was on the verge of tears now. "So Gohan is gonna let me stay with him for a little while until I find somewhere else to go."  
  
"Guys," Gohan started, looking worriedly at Lime, "I think we should get going, it's gonna be getting dark soon." Sharpner finished his picture taking and rejoined Gohan, Videl, Erasa, and Lime. The five teens then walked off into the woods, heading back to Gohan's house.  
  
"So Lime how did you and Gohan meet exactly?" Videl asked trying to make small talk as they continued their journey through the woods.  
  
Lime glanced at Gohan quickly before answering, "Well the first time we met I thought he was a horribly vulgar little boy, but after I thought about it for a little while all he really did was save my life." Videl looked a little confused at the statement but didn't say anything; unfortunately she was the only one who did remain quiet.  
  
"He saved your life? How? When?"  
  
"How could a geeky little kid like him manage to save anyone from anything?"  
  
Lime looked at them bemused, "I fell into the river and would've drowned if Gohan hadn't been there. He pulled me out of the water and later on he saved my grandfather by stopping this strange guy from shooting him." Videl looked over at Gohan curiously, *Huh, I wonder how he managed to pull that one off...*  
  
Gohan smiled nervously, "It was nothing really, I was just in the right place at the right time, it was all just luck." Videl was still staring at Gohan, *He's hiding something... this guy's the worst liar I've ever met, although the girl seems to be a really good liar, if I weren't a pro then I wouldn't be able to tell at all. Such an odd contrast, but what are they hiding and why are they hiding it... Does it have something to do with the shelter that was destroyed here, and the identity of the people at the Cell Games as well?*  
  
"What are you hiding Gohan?" Videl asked him quietly a few minutes later. Sharpner and Erasa were beginning to lag behind and Lim had run ahead down the path, so they were all alone.  
  
Gohan looked skyward as they walked thru the trees, the gentle wind causing the branches to sway gently, "What everyone hides Videl, my true self..." Videl looked at him once again.  
  
"I mean besides that Gohan, you're a horrible liar an there was something more to that 'he saved my life' story that that child spoke of."  
  
Gohan stopped dead in his tracks glaring at Videl, "She's not a child Videl, she's only a year younger than you are. She may look young but that's only because she has such a pure heart. She is no more a child then you are and I would appreciate you not insulting my friends like that." Videl rolled her eyes.  
  
"She, on he other hand is an excellent liar, so how can she be 'pure hearted' if she lies that well?"  
  
"Lime," Gohan stated simply as he began to walk again, "only lies to protect the people she cares about. She has been forced into the same horrible habit as most people today have; she's been forced to lie. Though unlike most, she has maintained her innocence because she only does what she has to do to protect the ones she cares for; there is no cause nobler than that." Gohan looked at Videl only to find her staring at the floor deep in thought. He was about to say something to her when a high pitched scream split through the air. Gohan and Videl both took off towards the sound as fast as they could run in the dense foliage of the forest.  
  
Gohan arrived on the scene first, well ahead of Videl (much to her surprise). When he got to the edge of the tree line he noticed the problem, there was nothing beyond the tree line, nothing but a fifty foot drop into a raging river. If he had not grabbed the tree when he did he would have toppled of the edge. He was looking over the edge as Videl arrived on the scene.  
  
"What are you just standing there for keep going!" Videl yelled as she ran up to Gohan, and past him. She screamed as she realized that there was nothing underneath her and she began to plummet to the ground. She was about to scream again as she realized she had stopped falling she looked up and found herself staring into two black pools. She squeezed her eyes shut; gasping for air, as she realized that she was being pulled back up. She didn't open them again until she felt herself being placed gently on the ground. The moment she put her weight on her legs she began to collapse to the forest floor, only to find her decent once again stopped by Gohan.  
  
"Pull yourself together Videl, I thought you were supposed to be the second strongest human on the planet." Videl opened looked up from the ground that she had been staring at since her feet had hit it and found herself extremely close to Gohan's face. She blinked a few times before realizing who it was that was holding her. She pushed him away a hard as she could but instead of him moving away from her, she found herself moving back from him. She bumped into a tree and sank to the ground.  
  
"What the hell just happened??"  
  
"Well you just ran off of a cliff, you probably would have died if I hadn't caught you." Videl just sat on the ground with a blank look on her face. Gohan gave an exasperated sigh, "Then when I got you back up here you almost collapsed on me, so I tried to steady you but then you pushed back into the tree and ended up on the ground anyway, then I began this pointless explanation. Now can I stop?"  
  
"Sorry about that, I don't think I've ever fallen like that, I mean jumping down a story or two is one thing but that drop would've killed me... thank you..." Videl said as she got to her feet.  
  
"If you two are done with your little chat, do you mind helping me Gohan?" Videl jumped at the sound of the voice, she looked around to find the source before once again (cautiously this time though) approaching the cliff edge. She looked down, and there sitting on a small ledge was Lime staring up at the two of them looking highly annoyed.  
  
"Yeah, hold on a sec," Gohan said with a slight smile before promptly beginning to climb down the side of the cliff. Videl just looked at him, shocked that he was so graceful and accurate in his movements down the wall. "Next time," Gohan said softly as Lime climbed on to his back, "You may not be so lucky, you should watch where you're going in these mountains."  
  
Lime and Gohan arrived back at the top just as Erasa and Sharpner arrived. "Oh," Erasa almost shrieked, "what happened?"  
  
"I fell off a cliff." Lime stated as she brushed all the dust off of her clothes. "Then Videl tried to imitate me and fell off too. I think I've lost count of how many times you've saved someone, or everyone, Gohan." Lime smiled at the other teens. "Well that was a great adventure, let's never do it again..." Gohan laughed softly and the group continued on its way.  
  
*He saved my life... I can't believe I almost did that, what a great way to die. I wish I could fly the way Saiyaman does, I wouldn't have been so scared if I knew how to do that, even if it is some kind of trick, it may have able to save me, without Gohan's help. How did he lift me anyway? My weight is all muscle, how could he lift me?* They trekked for another two hours, returning to Gohan's house after dark, much later then they expected.  
  
"Gohan, you're back!" Bulma exclaimed. "I decided to give you a break and take your friends home with me, it'll save you the trip back."  
  
"Yeah Gohan, and Trunks is gonna stay here and train with me for a little while. Do you wanna come too?"  
  
"Sorry squirt, I've got something that I have to do." Gohan motioned to Lime.  
  
"Oh, who's she Gohan?" Goten was staring at Lime, wide eyed.  
  
"Hello, my name is Lime, and you must be Goten." Goten nodded happily. "Wow, you look just like Gohan did when I first met him, but then again you look a lot like your father as well."  
  
"You knew my dad?"  
  
"I met him once, a long time ago."  
  
"I never got to meet him, he died before I was born." Lime smiled at him trying to cheer him up.  
  
"You will meet him one day, I know it," she said kindly. Goten nodded, happy and carefree once again. He and Trunks bid farewell to everyone and ran outside to play. Chichi emerged from the kitchen and put some food on the table for the famished teens. When they finished Videl, Erasa, and Sharpner went and gathered their things. They thanked Chichi for her hospitality.  
  
"I'll put everything together Gohan, don't worry, all that saving people must have exhausted you." Erasa smiled, "Have a good weekend, see you in school on Monday." Gohan nodded sadly. *I won't be in school on Monday Erasa, I may never be in school again, I'm going back into space.* Videl, Sharpner and Erasa waved good-bye to Gohan and Lime and stepped into the capsule copter.  
  
Bulma walked up and hugged Gohan whispering in his ear, "We had a problem at Capsule Corp last night, and Piccolo says Dende never returned from his visit here. Come by later, the old gang is gathering, I'll explain everything then." She let go of him and he nodded solemnly in agreement. She stepped into the copter and took off towards Satan City. *If only you knew how much trouble you had Bulma.* Gohan turned back to Lime who looked as worried as Gohan, she also knew what had happened to Dende and they could guess who was behind the troubles at CC. They walked back into the house in silent thought.  
  
RANDOM FACT: The manga and anime of DBZ are very different in some respects. For example filler episodes like Goku and Piccolo going for their driver's licenses, Gohan visiting Lime's village and the other pre Cell Games adventures never happened in the manga. The manga though explains the disappearance of Launch, something the anime does not go into (at least in the English dub), her disappearance is explained by saying that she went off chasing after Tien, although in reality Akira Toriyama said he just kinda forgot about her...  
  
AN: Hehe, what's Gohan gonna do? He has to hide the truth from his friends. Don't hurt me for killing off Lime's grandfather, I needed a reason for Lime to come and stay with Gohan and make Videl jealous. I am trying to stick to the major world and character limitations set down by the great Akira Toriyama, so I try to keep things the same, Saiyans don't bond telepathically, and tails don't magically grow back after so many years (I know some of you disagree but oh well). I know that I have changed a few things like Piccolo and the memory erasing thing, and Chichi being a little more mellow (sorry bout that but I really liked Chichi in DB and I hate how her character is displayed as a screaming bitch in DBZ, so I mellowed her a little). The only other change is the location of CC, it's really in West City I know but I decided that they have a "winter home/ summer home" thing going on so they spend a few months in Satan City and then return to their real home in West City, is that ok with everyone? Now REVIEW!!!! 


	8. The Reunion

AN: I made Lime kinda insightful cause I thought that she had a good handle on Gohan's character when they first met, so she's gonna be really good at reading Gohan's emotions. Now it's time for our little meeting...SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 8 The Reunion  
  
Gohan, Trunks, and Goten took off from the Son house, heading towards Capsule Corp. (AN: This time it's the main one in West City.)  
  
"Hey Gohan," Gohan stopped and looked down at Lime, "You have to teach me how to fly..... when you get back." Gohan looked at her sadly and nodded. Both teens knew that he would not be returning, not soon anyway. Gohan flew away with the two boys, his heart heavy.  
  
"Good, you boys are here." Bulma welcomed them at the door and then led Gohan and Goten into a private living room in CC, the others were already gathered. Krillin and Yamcha were sitting on couch talking happily. Piccolo stood near the fireplace leaning against the wall (in the normal Piccolo stance) and Android 18 stood up against the opposite wall in the same fashion. Tien and Chaoutzu (AN: Sorry if I spelled that wrong) were also there, to everyone's amazement. Gohan entered the room behind Bulma, eager, yet nervous, about talking all his old friends. As Krillin saw Gohan enter he jumped up to go welcome his old friend, Yamcha got up to do the same but stopped dead in his tracks a moment later. Goten had just entered the room. Yamcha, Tien, and Chaoutzu stared at the young boy.  
  
"Gohan," Goten tugged at his brother's pants, "why are all those people looking at me?"  
  
"Oh, my..... I can't believe it. He looks exactly like Goku!" Yamcha walked up to the boy and knelt down. "It's..... it's..... wow. Hey kid, did you know you look exactly like Goku did when he was your age." Tien and Chaoutzu continued to stare at Goten, and both nodded their heads vigorously in agreement with Yamcha's words. Goten lowered his head in shame.  
  
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.  
  
"You have nothing to be sorry about Goten," Gohan said picking up his brother, "it's not your fault, it's not anyone's fault. Actually, if anything, it's a good thing you're like dad, he was a hero, and one day you will be too. Cheer up Squirt, when you meet dad, and you WILL meet him, he'll be really proud of who you are, and I know you two will get along great." Goten gave his brother a big hug and smiled at him. Every single pair of eyes in the room was now on Gohan, and they were all thinking the same thing. *What happened to Gohan? He has been blaming himself for Goku's death for the past seven years, yet now, all of a sudden he seems to have gotten over it. How?* Gohan just smiled at them all and put his brother back on the ground. "Go find Trunks and play, but make sure you get home by bedtime and tell Mom I'll be back sometime later. Ok Squirt?" Goten nodded and ran off to find his friend. Gohan looked at everyone *Ok, keep it cool, Gohan don't let on about anything. * He took a deep breath, "Ok guys, what have you got?"  
  
"Dende has been kidnapped," Piccolo started the conversation causing shocked gasps from Krillin and Yamcha, "I don't know who took him, but I know he's not on this planet." Tien and Chaoutzu nodded knowingly.  
  
"I sensed his disappearance last night, but it was too late to do anything." Chaoutzu said ashamed of his lack of action.  
  
"There was nothing you could have done Chaoutzu." Gohan said blankly. Piccolo looked at him closely for a moment before continuing.  
  
"He's not dead, so the dragon balls can help us find him fast. If we all go after a dragon ball we can collect them all in a few hours' time." Everyone on the room nodded in agreement, everyone that is, except Gohan.  
  
"Is that the best idea Piccolo? I mean if you use the dragon balls to find Dende then something goes wrong with this 'new enemy' we won't be able to fix anything." Everyone looked at Gohan, defeated; they knew he was right. "How about you put some supplies in the space capsule, and we leave to find him in the morning?" Their eyes widened.  
  
"Gohan that's prefect, but we don't know where they were headed and... and the ship was stolen. I think it was the guy who kidnapped Dende." Bulma said, once again managing to lower the hopes of all those present.  
  
"Woman, even a weakling like this brat can follow a ki in space. And, in case you've forgotten, there is a backup ship here, only the one in Satan City was stolen, and you are considered a genius on this planet, pah." Vegeta had finished his training and was now standing in the doorway looking annoyed. They all stared at him, still amazed at the fact he would give his assistance, even after all these years. "But then of course maybe you can't, maybe you do need my help after all. And if I can get a fight out of it, my troubles will be worth it."  
  
"Fine then it's settled, we leave in the morning." Gohan said, almost angrily and stood up, "Do as you wish Vegeta, I have to go. Goodbye... goodbye to all of you." Gohan walked out of the room leaving a surprised Vegeta and a confused group of fighters behind.  
  
"Why do I have this odd feeling like he's not telling us something?" Krillin asked, still staring out the door after Gohan.  
  
"Because, he is. But then again he has changed drastically; he seems at peace with Goku's death."  
  
"Let the boy be," Vegeta growled, "He has his own path to follow, where ever it may lead. Woman, I suggest you load up that ship now." Vegeta turned and stalked out of the room.  
  
"He's right I should pack the ship and get some sleep, we all should. We have an early day tomorrow. And don't argue with my coming with you, I'm the only one that knows how to operate the ship well enough to follow Dende." Everyone nodded and, after agreeing when to meet in the morning, went their separate ways. Bulma walked down the empty halls of CC and entered the hanger where the spare ship was. *It's a good thing that we have a backup ship, since the guy who kidnapped Dende stole the other one. But I still don't understand how he got in with out setting off the alarms, he would have had to known the code, but only my father and I know the code. Then there's Gohan... when I saw him last time he time he seemed so different than he did tonight. He seemed distant and sad, but then of course Piccolo was probably right when he said that Gohan was hiding something... but what, and more importantly why? Vegeta seemed to know something, but he always knows more then he lets on, he has a certain mystery surrounding him... Kami... * Bulma yawned, then noticed that she had finished packing up the ship (without even realizing she was doing it) and decided to go to bed. She yawned again as she turned out the lights, closed the door, and turned the security alarm on. She did not notice that she had locked someone in the hanger with the ship, someone by the name of Gohan.  
  
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"How the hell did the ship disappear without me knowing it? Ships just don't get up and walk away by themselves!" Bulma was beyond furious, someone had taken the ship, and this time there was no sign of where it had gone. "I mean you can't lift off with out making a noise. And even if could move it without lifting off there is no way of getting it out of that hanger without opening the doors, something like that would have defiantly set off the alarms! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!!!!"  
  
Everyone, with the exception of Gohan, was gathered to go after Dende, but when they opened the hanger door they had discovered ship had disappeared without a trace. No one knew what to make of this new development. They all stood at the hanger's outside door confused and shocked for only a few minutes though, before their thoughts were interrupted. A yellow cloud descended from the sky with one occupant on board, a young girl that only Bulma recognized.  
  
"You're Lime right, Gohan's friend? Hey wait, where is Gohan?" Bulma became suddenly worried. Everyone scanned for his Ki but all were unable to locate it.  
  
"Please, I was wondering are there any more space ships that can be used to go after Dende."  
  
"No there aren't... but how did you...?" Bulma asked harshly as everyone glared at her suspiciously.  
  
"I will explain everything... Um... can we go inside and sit down though... It's kinda a long story." Everyone continued to look at her but Bulma led the way into the private living room once again. They entered the room and were shocked to find Vegeta waiting for them  
  
"Well it's about time you showed up; I'm losing precious training time."  
  
Everyone took up a comfortable position and waited for the young girl to start her story. "Ok... since I don't know many of you I think I should introduce myself. My name is Lime, when I was a girl Gohan came to my village and destroyed a shelter, one that was made to protect the people from Cell. He returned to my village yesterday working on a project for school, one about Cell. Since I already knew about him being the real hero of the Cell Games... he told me what had been going on. He said that someone out there was overriding Dende's powers. Then he told me how Dende was kidnapped."  
  
"You can't be telling the truth," Bulma screeched, "He didn't know of Dende's disappearance until I told him that night!" Almost everyone in the room nodded in agreement.  
  
"That's not true. He knew about it right after it happened... you see... well..."  
  
"Spit it out you annoying little human or I'll spread your molecules across the galaxy!" Vegeta was highly annoyed, "Tell them where the brat has gone and why so that I can get back to my training." Now it was Vegeta's turn to be stared at by the group.  
  
"Gohan is gone, he... he got a letter from the guy that kidnapped Dende and he took the ship to go after them." Lime spoke rather quickly, not wanting to keep Vegeta in the room any longer than necessary.  
  
"Fine, the boy has gone and you can all relax now. The GR needs to be fixed again, so hurry up and finish this." Bulma was too busy staring at the green-eyed girl to listen to what Vegeta had just said to her.  
  
"He knew about this and he didn't tell any of us? Why would he do that?" Krillin asked still slightly of suspicious of Lime.  
  
"Because the note said if he told you Dende would die, and he said anyone who could negate something Dende did could probably tell if he told one of you. But since I couldn't and wouldn't try and stop him, he figured it was ok to tell me."  
  
"That's true," Tien began slowly, "But why tell us now?"  
  
"Because Gohan asked me to... he wanted all of you to know in case... in case he didn't come back. That's why I asked if there were any more ships, I had to make sure none of you would follow him. He didn't want any of you to get hurt, or for Dende to die because he didn't do what the note said, but he said that he would probably be back in about two days with Dende and some answers." Lime still had a grim look on her face; she didn't believe any more of what she was saying than they did.  
  
"Have a little faith in the boy, he'll return. The man who stole the ship is not the one we have to worry about." Everyone looked at Vegeta.  
  
"What do you mean?" Piccolo asked.  
  
"The person who kidnapped Dende was not evil. I felt his Ki for a moment when he broke open the hanger doors to launch the ship. It was not an evil feeling, although it was familiar somehow..." Vegeta shook his head in annoyance at not being able to identify the Ki. "I'm going back to my training, inform me when they return woman." Vegeta exited the room quickly. The rest of the group continued to discuss what Gohan had done and how they could help. But after hours of thinking they had gotten nowhere. Lime left them; she knew that Gohan was on his own on this one and that they would not be able to help him at all.  
  
Lime climbed back on board the Nimbus, but she did not return to the mountains, she instead headed to Satan City. Nimbus dropped her off on the roof of the school building and she thanked the cloud for the ride, informing it that she would need his services again soon. Lime slowly descended the stairs and entered the crowded halls, determined to fulfill her mission, find Videl.  
  
RANDOM FACT: Although every important character in DBZ has died at least once Krillin holds the record for confirmed deaths, he died three times though out DB and DBZ. Once when King Piccolo arrived in DB, once on Namek, and again when Buu destroyed the Earth. Goku died in the fight with Raditz and in the fight with Cell, but his death on Namek is highly debated and he can therefore not tie the record. It's kinda pathetic that he dies so much yet is supposedly the strongest human fighter...  
  
AN: I can't believe all the reviews, I'm so happy!! Thank you all for them, and keep writing them, every chapter, for ever and ever and ever. If you have questions make sure I have your email to respond, or on the flip side if you have info in response to my questions make sure I have your email in case all you manage to do is confuse me even more. THANKS AND REVIEW!!!! 


	9. THE AMAZING MOVING CHAPTER!

I would like you all to meet the amazing moving chapter!!! This is the pointless entry I have decided to put after the last chapter that I have edited and reposted. I am going to attempt to make FFN show the story as updated every time I post an edited chapter so I can get more reviews (YAY!!) My next new chapter won't be up until March so if you want an email saying when I've finally updated for real you have to tell me and give me your email address so I can do that.  
  
For any new readers that might be out there:  
  
There are some inconsistencies and mistakes and such in the later chapters, if you see one feel free to point it out just so I don't miss it. These chapters will be replaced sometime in the future and there will be added scenes and edits to current scenes so keep that in mind as you read!  
  
DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!!!! 


	10. Lime's Adventure

AN: Ok this is a Lime chapter, I thought it would be best to do this storyline first. you'll see why. Well yeah, the guy at the WMAT's name is Frankie. Thanks to Mrs. Videl Son and her compatriots for the info on that one. Remember, I love reviews so if you want to review every chapter or maybe twice every chapter. sorry. Oh, and sorry that this is late but I've actually been doing homework for a change! SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 10 Lime's Adventure  
  
Lime walked through the crowded halls looking for the raven-haired girl. She looked and looked but no one she saw even slightly resembled Videl, or Sharpner, or Erasa. Suddenly there was a loud buzzing noise and all the students filed into classrooms, leaving Lime standing in the hall, alone and confused. She continued to walk down the hall looking into the classrooms, still trying to locate Videl. She was so engrossed in her search that she didn't notice the tall, strict-looking woman walking down the hall, and Lime ran straight into her. Lime was knocked to the ground by the impact.  
  
"Sorry," she muttered, getting to her feet. The woman stared at her murderously through her thick glasses.  
  
"What are you doing out of class young lady?" She snipped  
  
"Oh. Well. I don't go to school."  
  
"What? Come with me, young lady. Children your age are required to go to school, so you will go to school here." The woman led the girl, by the shoulder, to a large glass office on the ground floor of the school. She opened the top drawer of the desk and pulled out some papers. After twenty minutes of answering questions about her life and schooling, Lime was officially enrolled in Orange Star High School. The woman pushed her glasses back up her pointed nose and typed the girl's stats into the computer. A minute later a sheet was being printed, Lime's schedule. She took it out of the printer and handed it to the girl.  
  
"There you are Miss Lime. The fourth class is about to begin so go to the library and get your books. Your locker assignment is on the top of the sheet and if you can't find a class just ask one of the students. Now, hurry up, or you'll be late." The woman snipped.  
  
Lime quickly bowed out of the office and walked down the hall to the library. *How did I get myself trapped into doing this? I just came here to find Videl and all Gohan's friends to make sure they got the information about this project back. Since we don't know if Gohan's coming back at all. No I can't think that way, he will come back, he's Gohan, he always finds a way to come through in the end. * Lime walked into the library and the librarian gave her the appropriate books. She then followed the numbers on the lockers until she found the one that had been assigned to her. *I wonder what's school going to be like? I mean I've never really been to school before. We had classes kinda, my mom used to teach all the village children reading and writing and math, and all sorts of interesting stuff, but after she died. I didn't have a lot to time to study. I hope everyone doesn't think I'm stupid. Wait why am I even doing this at all? I'm just here to find Videl then I'll just skip out. Who cares if I go to school anyways? Well maybe Chichi, she'll love that I'm in school with Gohan now. I guess we'll see though, if things are as hard as Gohan says they can be I definitely won't stay here. I don't need all this education junk to run my grandfather's store but maybe it'll be fun to hang out with Gohan when he gets back.  
  
"Hey are you lost?" Lime turned to face a cheery blonde girl who was smiling at her like an idiot. Lime's eyes widened in amazement.  
  
"Erasa?" The blonde looked at her in confusion, "I'm Lime, remember? Gohan's friend?" Erasa's smiled disappeared at the memory of Lime's closeness with Gohan.  
  
"Oh yeah, I remember now. What are you doing here?"  
  
"Actually Gohan sent me to find you and Videl, and I kinda got trapped into enrolling by this mean old lady." Erasa laughed at her.  
  
"I bet you haven't ever been to school before, considering where you live and all." A look of hurt and anger flashed across Lime's face, but she quickly shook it off.  
  
"Do you happen to know where Videl is? I have to give her a message."  
  
"Umm. what class are you supposed to have?" Lime handed her the schedule that the woman had given her. Erasa looked it over for a moment before speaking again. "You have class with us next, so just follow me and you can talk to Videl. Actually we are going to present our project, the one we visited you to do. Where is Gohan anyway?" Lime was closely following the girl down the crowded halls, trying not to lose her.  
  
"Umm. A friend of his got hurt and he's gone to see him, I don't know when he'll be back. That's why I'm here." The two girls entered the room and Erasa went to her seat and sat down, slightly annoyed by Lime's presence. Lime went to the teacher's desk to inform him that she was going to be in the class. He checked the information and told her to sit down somewhere and just watch the presentations that would be presented during class. Lime smiled and went up to sit next to Erasa, in Gohan's normal seat.  
  
"So where is Videl?" She started again, annoying Erasa even more. *Who does this girl think she is? First she moves in with Gohan, and now she's trying to find Videl, probably to try to become her best friend. Well we'll see about that! She may have stolen MY Gohan, but I won't let her steal my best friend! *  
  
"She'll be here any minute. By the way Lime how long do you plan on staying?"  
  
"Until the end of this class probably. I have to go and tell Chichi about what's going on, I just hope Goten's there to protect me! Especially when I tell her that Gohan's gonna be missing school for a while!"  
  
"Where did Gohan go off to this time?" A familiar voice broke in. Lime looked up to find a very irritated Videl glaring at her.  
  
"Oh, hi Videl. Gohan sent me to tell you that he's not going to be here, something. came up. A friend of his needed some help, hopefully he'll be back in a few days."  
  
"Hopefully?" Videl questioned.  
  
"Umm. anyway, he gave me this envelope and said it was your project info and that you might need it. I can't wait to see you do this project though. It'll be interesting to see someone else's view of the events surrounding the destruction of the shelter."  
  
"Yeah, hey why do you help us? I mean you can explain it better than we can, you were actually there!"  
  
"Sorry, but that wouldn't be fair. Gohan told me not to let you bully me into doing anything. Besides it's your perspective of it, not mine." Videl glared at her again. Lime rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair, "Besides, I'm leaving the first chance I get. There are some things I have to get done, including finding Goten. I think he may be at the Capsule Corps, but I'm not gonna go in. So I'll have to wait outside for some sign of Goten and then grab him."  
  
"Why do you need to find him?" Sharpner asked curiously.  
  
"Like I'm gonna tell Chichi that Gohan might not come back without protection."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Videl almost screamed.  
  
"Um. Nothing it's just that."  
  
"Miss Satan, is your group ready for their presentation?" Videl turned to Mr. Sumisu and nodded. She stood up and stalked down to the front of the class. Erasa and Sharpner followed, although a little more bored than Videl.  
  
"OK everyone, this project is about Cell. Actually this presentation is about a shelter that was built to well shelter the people when Cell destroyed everyone. But then someone decided to blow it up and." Videl was interrupted by the alarm on her watch. There was a fire downtown, people were trapped and they needed all the help they could get. Videl looked amused at this and turned to the teacher. "I'm so sorry, Sharpner and Erasa will have to finish this on their own. Bye." Videl grinned and raced out the door before the teacher could protest. Erasa and Sharpner looked at each other, scared and horrified at the absence of all those in their group who actually possessed intelligence (AN: Sorry I couldn't resist doing that!).  
  
Lime looked curiously out the door that Videl had just gone through. *Does she have powers like Gohan does? I mean if she's as weak as her father then why does she go out to save the day? I don't get it, either she's super strong and Gohan doesn't want her to know that they're at the same level, or she's not that strong and Gohan doesn't want her to know that there are people like him in the world. *  
  
"I wonder if the Great Saiyaman will show up?" A nerdy looking boy in front of Lime said quietly.  
  
"Saiyaman? Who's he?" The boy squinted at her through his glasses.  
  
"He's this obnoxious superhero who tries to fight crime with Videl. He can fly and catch bullets in his bare hands and everything." His voice was rather nasally in sounding and his words were full of confidence and smugness, making Lime's response even more surprising.  
  
"Saiyan-man! Oh wow, he has no creativity whatsoever!" She was trying her hardest not to laugh and disturb the already nervous Erasa and Sharpner. "I mean, give me a break. I can't wait." Lime was laughing silently at this point. The boy was just staring at her in shock, he had thought that he was the school's expert on the Great Saiyaman, but this girl appeared to actually KNOW him.  
  
"Uhh.uhh. who are you? And how do you know Saiyaman?" The boy asked still in shock.  
  
"Oh," Lime stopped laughing, embarrassed at her lack of manners, "My name is Lime, I'm new here today."  
  
"Oh, well I'm Frankie, the schools' resident expert on all things strange. Like did you know that aliens actually landed in East City about fourteen years ago? (AN: Is that right? I'm really bad at time in the DBZ world, I mean three years in one episode and five minutes in nine episodes, they have a horrible sense of time in that show, it's annoying.)" Lime nodded.  
  
"Did you know that one of them is still here? And did you know that there are lots of people on this planet who were either born on, or have gone to other inhabitable worlds?" Lime smirked, and Frankie just gaped at her. *May be she can help me find them, or at least find out their weaknesses. I have got to find these people! *  
  
"Wow, do you know them? I mean how do people fly, and make things explode and stuff? Do you know those guys who were at the Cell Games?" Lime was taken aback by his questions and took a minute to contemplate them before answering.  
  
"Well, I can ask if they'll meet with you. But they aren't very. personable. It's not my business to expose them if they don't want to be exposed, so I'll have to ask after school today, and after I go to Capsule Corps to find Goten. So yeah, I know a few of the guys at the Cell Games, one is dead though and another came from the future, and he returned there, but the others I'll talk to." The boy's mouth was almost to the floor now. *I actually am gonna see these guys AMAZING! * Lime giggled and turned back to listen to the presentation that was still going on. Videl returned soon after and rescued Erasa and Sharpner from their torture. The rest of the class proceeded quickly, with only one other group getting their presentation done. Lime, who had been planning to leave after that class was over, decided to stay to get to know Videl and her friends better. School was rather boring though and she could see why many students hated it, they seemed too put the emphasis more on repetitive work than on grasping concepts.  
  
"I have got to get going, Chichi's probably worried sick about me, I promised to find Gohan for her. and since I haven't, I can't go back without at least having Goten, so I have to find him. Hopefully he's at Capsule Corps again, cause if I get back and he's not there to protect me, well. Chichi will probably kill me."  
  
"Why is it that Chichi doesn't know where Gohan is anyways?" Videl asked suspiciously.  
  
"Well he left last night to meet with some people and never came back, so I came to find out why and. I was told what happened and so I have to tell Chichi."  
  
"How long will he be gone for anyway?"  
  
"Well. I don't know exactly. Maybe a few days, maybe more." She said, getting more depressed and worried with every word she spoke. "I have to go, FLYING NIMBUS!!"  
  
"What's a flying Nimbus?" Asked Videl, highly annoyed at the girl's scream into the air. "What exactly did you." Videl stopped as she saw the golden cloud descend and Lime hop onto it like it was perfectly normal.  
  
"This is Nimbus, he gave me a ride here." Videl's mouth had crashed to the ground in shock.  
  
"What. where. how." Lime giggled at Videl's inability to form a sentence, "Where did you get that thing?"  
  
"Oh, it's Gohan's, but since he's not here. wait. AW MAN! I bet you weren't supposed to know about this, Gohan's gonna kill me when he finds out!"  
  
"THIS IS GOHAN'S!!!" Videl screamed.  
  
"How do you think he gets to school so fast, does he fly or something? This is a Nimbus Cloud that belonged to Master Roshi, the Turtle Hermit."  
  
"He knows the great Master Roshi!!!"  
  
"Actually, I think his dad was the one that knew him really. I can't remember exactly, but he said his dad gave it to him." Videl's mind was in shock. *A flying cloud?? I don't believe what I'm seeing. I guess a cloud is better than flying but, how did his dad know Master Roshi? *  
  
"I'm confused." Videl's response only made Lime laugh.  
  
"Don't mention this to Gohan please!! I don't think I could survive him getting mad at me." Lime giggled at this. "I have to go now for real, I'll see you tomorrow Videl. If I decide to come back. School's rather stupid if you ask me, but then again I don't want to spend the day with Chichi alone. Bye Videl!" Lime took off toward CC on the cloud, Videl staring after her disbelievingly.  
  
In the shadows a figure watched them intently. *So she's going to Capsule Corps. I'll have to follow her; I need to find out all I can about Goku's little group of friends. With Gohan gone, my plan can take effect soon. They won't know what hit them. They'll be sorry Goku ever destroyed my family. I will rule them all in my grandfather's place. They shall pay *  
  
AN: Hehe, bad guy alert! Sorry it took so long with this chapter, school caught up to me and I took on a new job as a beta reader for someone else. So go read that story, its called "To Learn the Truth" by Marlene Kimaru, it's good and it has Lime in it. HAPPY. This chapter was supposed to be a lot longer so I have to do the other half soon, crazy people have been bugging me to update, so here it is! Now review my story and tell me what you think! 


	11. The Return of the Red Ribbon Army

AN: This chapter should be rather amusing, I hope. Thank you all for the reviews! SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 11 Return of the Red Ribbon Army  
  
Lime headed quickly towards Capsule Corps, a little too quickly for her liking, she was still nervous about Gohan's friends. She didn't want to arrive and find Vegeta and Bulma upset about the fact that she kept Gohan's plans a secret. The cloud flew over the wall and lowered so Lime could look in the window for Goten without going inside.  
  
"Get down off that cloud right now Lime!" Lime looked down to see a highly perturbed blue haired woman staring at her, arms folded, and tapping her foot impatiently. Lime gulped, but slowly lowered the cloud and hopped off in front of Bulma. She didn't dare look the woman in the face. *Oh Kami she's going to kill me. or worse send me to Vegeta to kill me, he'll make sure to draw it out, from what Gohan's told me about him. * "I bet you're here to find Goten, right? I also bet you haven't told Chichi about Gohan's disappearing act." Lime looked at her in total shock and shook her head slowly. Bulma laughed at this. "Don't look so shocked. I know that Chichi would have been here demanding a ship, if she knew where Gohan was. So I assumed you're here to find Goten so he can protect you when you tell Chichi." Lime smiled nervously and nodded her head. "Well the boys are around somewhere I bet, but don't count on Goten for protection, he's a coward when it comes to facing his mother. or anyone now that I think of it. He's stronger than any human but is still a little wimp when it comes to facing people in anything but a good fistfight." Bulma laughed again and Lime just looked worried.  
  
Outside the wall of CC though, Goten and Trunks were looking for a good target to practice their aim on. "Ya know Goten, this is my dad's favorite game. The first time he was teaching me how to aim good, Mr. Satan walked by. We had so much fun with that guy, but my aim wasn't good enough to kill him, dad was kinda disappointed."  
  
"Wow, really Trunks?" Trunks nodded self-assuredly. "That's so cool. hey who's that guy hiding in the shadows?" Goten pointed to a kid in a plaid shirt and with glasses.  
  
"Let's go find out." The two boys ran over to the man and tugged on the back of his pants, causing him to jump a mile into the air. He turned around and looked at the two boys murderously.  
  
"What do you kids want?"  
  
"I'd like to ask you the same thing. My mom would love to know you're hanging around outside, she works here ya know!" Trunks said angrily. Goten just nodded in clueless agreement.  
  
"Um. can you get me in there kid. A friend of mine is inside, her name is Lime, she's a friend of Gohan's too."  
  
"Oh, well if you know Gohan. and that other girl I guess Mom'll be ok with letting you in. Hey, do you wan to help us play a trick on Gohan when he gets back?" Trunks asked eagerly.  
  
"Where's Gohan gone to?"  
  
"He went into outer space to rescue Dende!" Goten chimed in.  
  
"Really, so he'll be gone. do you boys wanna to help me play a really big trick on him?" They looked at each other and then turned back to him and nodded, wide-eyed. "Good, how would you like to rule the world." Trunks laughed.  
  
"You'll never pull that off without some type of magical powers! The guys that defend this planet are a lot stronger than your average humans." He started laughing again.  
  
"That's where you boys come in, you have to distract the people like Yamcha and that Krillin guy, while I do what has to be done. Can you do that?" Trunks nodded.  
  
"But what about Mr. Piccolo?" Goten asked, nervous about the man before them and his plan for world domination.  
  
"He and my dad were going into that Time Chamber thingy later remember Goten? They wanted to train for that evil bad guy they think is coming." Goten scratched his head in bewilderment but nodded at his friend anyway. "The others will be easy to deal with, just find a fight and they'll be there."  
  
"Good, there's a regional tournament being held tomorrow, up north, near the old Muscle Tower. Mr. Satan's gonna be there and everything." The two boys nodded in agreement.  
  
"What exactly are you going to do?" Trunks asked suspiciously.  
  
"Well, I am going to do a project in school tomorrow, and the King is going to be doing a tour of the school. I plan on taking him hostage and going on TV to claim the world. I just have to find out how to deal with Videl and the police."  
  
"We can deal with them," Trunks said smugly, "we'll meet you tomorrow after getting rid of the others. My mom has this ray gun thing that should do the trick." The teen smiled and agreed to meet the boys in front of the school at 8AM the next morning. He then turned and walked away from the boys thinking to himself. *Finally, my grandfather's death will be avenged. I will rule the world! The name of Red will be forever etched into the history books! MWHAHAHA!!!! Goku's son will watch as I kill his puny friends, Sharpner, Erasa, and Videl, Those boys will have to die though once I begin my rule, they seem like they could actually be powerful. Although not as powerful as Gohan, or should I say Saiyaman? He will do what I say unless he wants his friends to die, even the mighty son of that demon murderer Goku will do as I command. *  
  
"Hey Goten, what do you say we rule the world ourselves?"  
  
"But Trunks what about that guy? Isn't he gonna rule the world? How can we all rule the world together?"  
  
"You idiot, we just let him THINK he rules the world, he can do whatever he want s tomorrow, but after we deal with the police and that Videl girl, we can take him out and rule ourselves."  
  
"I don't know Trunks my brother will be real mad when he comes back."  
  
"We can deal with Gohan later. Come on Goten, we can have all the candy we want, and we can stay up really late, and we can watch whatever TV shows we want to." Trunks looked at his friend pleadingly, but it was unnecessary for with the mention of unlimited food Goten was all for anything Trunks wanted to do. They continued to work out there plan of world domination, until Bulma and Lime came into view that is.  
  
"What are you two planning?" Bulma asked, glaring at them. Trunks laughed nervously.  
  
"Nothing mom, we're just gonna take over the world."  
  
"Ok, Trunks, just don't hurt anyone, ok?"  
  
"WE won't I promise. Can we borrow your ray gun to train to avoid guns?" Bulma eyed him suspiciously but nodded anyway. *They never actually do anything dangerous, although he becomes more like Vegeta everyday. * The two boys started to run into the house.  
  
"Hey Goten we have to go." Lime said urgently.  
  
"Aw. Bulma can't I stay here tonight?"  
  
"NO!! I can't tell Chichi about Gohan on my own!!! She'll kill me." Goten looked at her and paled.  
  
"Go with you to tell mom about Gohan. I don't want to die either." He ran up and started crying on Bulma's leg, "Please don't make me go Trunk's mom, please." Bulma peeled him off of her leg and held him up at eye level with her.  
  
"Go with Lime now and make sure your mom is ok. Don't cry, she's not gonna hurt you, then you can come back and stay the night with Trunks and take over the world, ok?" Goten wiped his nose and nodded sadly. Bulma put him back on the ground and he and Lime went up to the Nimbus and got on. They both looked pale as the cloud took to the sky and sped toward the Son household. *I hope Chichi doesn't get too upset, wait what am I saying? I just hope she doesn't kill anyone because of this. *  
  
To Goten's shock Chichi wasn't too upset with Gohan's disappearance. She did yell and scream but no physical harm was done to either of the children. Chichi did throw a few things when they told her about Gohan going off ALONE but Goten and Lime skillfully dodged each projectile that came their way. Chichi knew on some level though that Gohan had to do this to save his friend, but she couldn't see why someone else couldn't have done it for him. (AN: Sorry confusing I know, but it kind of makes sense doesn't it? I'm not being to specific cause Chichi's reaction isn't important in the long run, and as I said before her character in DBZ is way too annoying for me, I liked her better in DB.) Goten went back to CC on Nimbus and Lime made dinner for herself and Chichi, to try to get back on her good side after keeping Gohan's secret.  
  
The next morning Lime happily headed off to school, Chichi had actually cheered up when Lime told her she was enrolled in Gohan's school and would keep her updated on any "prospects" for him. She spent the day trying to get to know Videl and the others better; that is until history class came.  
  
"The next two projects are going to be presented today in class, and we have a special guest in our audience, the King of the World himself!" Mr. Sumisu announced and motioned to the back of the room. Every student turned their head and clapped energetically. *I wish they would show me that much enthusiasm. * Mr. Sumisu thought before continuing on with the class. "Would the group doing the report on the Red Ribbon Army please come forward?" A group of four students walked down to the front, three extremely nervous, and one overly smug.  
  
The smug one started the project off, "Hello everyone, this is on the Red Ribbon Army, the most feared group to ever try and rule the face of the Earth. They were after these seven mystical objects known as Dragon Balls." Lime turned and stared at the boy in utter and complete shock. *How does he know about the Dragon Balls? * "They would have succeeded too, were it not for a certain young boy by the name of Goku. I now want you all to be the first to witness the rebirth of the Red Ribbon Army!" The boy pulled out an odd shaped gun and pointed it at the King. "Long live the new ruler of this world, Red!" The boy fired a shot out the window of the school signaling for reinforcements.  
  
In a movement faster than anyone in the room could see, all the men protecting the King were on the floor unconscious. Videl leapt forward to take the gun but was stopped in her tracks. "Well, well our city's mightiest hero stopped by a simple weapon such as this. If only the Great Saiyaman was here, but wait. he's on another planet right now. But when he gets back he'll do exactly what I tell him to, he won't me to hurt his friends now would he?" He was standing only inches from Videl now, sneering at her as he spoke, and delighted beyond belief that she could do nothing to force him away.  
  
"Saiyaman is not my friend you jerk." He just laughed.  
  
"Ah the things I could tell you, but that will have to wait, all of you into the gym. I want to announce my rule to the whole world. You two, grab the King and Videl and follow me. MOVE IT ALL OF YOU!! And don't try anything funny or I'll be forced to kill someone." Two small figures moved through the crowd. One, dressed in black, grabbed Videl's petrified form and lifted her up with ease. The other, dressed all in white went up and took the King's hand. (AN: They, of course, are going to hide their faces, Videl and Lime know who they are so they are wearing ninja uniforms k?)  
  
"This I'll be fun, can I have candy now?" The white clad figure asked the King, his eyes shinning in anticipation. The King just stared and blinked at him in disbelief as he was led out of the room and into the gymnasium. The students and Mr. Sumisu nervously made their way to the gym and sat in the chairs that had been set up for the King's press conference. The reporters, who were there early, setting up their equipment, watched the entering group of student with suspicion and confusion. When a boy with a weird gun entered though they sprung into action.  
  
"What's going on? Who are you?" They went up and held their microphones in his face; the two figures however moved unseen up to the podium with their prisoners.  
  
"Get away or I'll blast you all!" he screamed, "Just sit down and turn those cameras on, I have an announcement to make." Videl was still struggling to move against the invisible force that held her in place, while the King continued to look at the figure holding his had, rattling on and on about all the different types of candy that he loved to eat.  
  
Within minutes the TV cameras were turned on and pointed at the boy with the strange gun. The two small figures stood on either side of him, like bodyguards often do. The King, who had been tied by the black clad figure, and Videl, still unable to move, were strategically positioned behind the boy so that they would be in view of the camera.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen of the world," the boy started grandiosely, "Today is a day to rejoice. Behind me stand two figures you all recognize, Satan Videl, daughter of the great Hercule, and your dear King of the Earth, both of whom are now my prisoners." Videl glared at him as she continued to struggle to free herself. "I would like to announce to you all that I am the new ruler of this planet. Many years ago, my grandfather, the great Commander Red attempted to rule this world, he failed due to an unforeseen obstacle, but I will not make the same mistake as my ancestor. Where he failed I have succeeded, the Red Ribbon Army now controls this world!" The two small figures looked at each other in shock, *We just helped a guy from the Red Ribbon Army. If Gohan ever finds out about this. *  
  
The two boys slowly slid off the stage and, once out of the sight of the crowd took of their masks. "Trunks." Goten whined, "Gohan's gonna kill us for this one! That guy is from the Red Ribbon Army, Gohan hates them more than anything, even more than me going through his stuff!"  
  
"Calm down Goten he's never gonna know about any of this, now put you mask back on and we'll take over from here. We just have to get rid of those stupid cameras first."  
  
"But how do we do that without them seeing us Trunks?"  
  
"Leave it to me, Dad showed me how, he hates it when they try to make him be in press releases, so he just blows up all the cameras in the house sometimes. It's loads of fun, watch." Trunks raised his hand, palm facing the captive audience in front of the stage.  
  
"Anyone who tries to stop me will be defeated just as easily as Videl was, I have ultimate power! I am unbeatable! MWHAHAHAHA!!! Now I will return to King's Palace and await the one whom is responsible for my grandfather's defeat, if he does not arrive then people will die, city by city, everything will be destroyed! MWHAH." There was a sudden explosion and all the cameras in the gym exploded. The man who called himself Red looked around in shock, "WHO RUINED MY PRESS CONFERENCE! IF YOU DON'T SHOW YOURSELF NOW I'LL DESTROY EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM!!!!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, into the microphone too. The noise caused made everyone in the room cover their ears, but also caused moans of agony to be echoed around the gym. Red turned to see the two figures dressed as ninjas, on the floor holding their ears and screaming bloody murder, right next to the largest speaker in the gym.  
  
Suddenly everything began to shake violently, and said speaker flew across the gym in a flash of golden light. Red and the others near him were forced to cover their eyes due to the intense light and were even knocked to the ground by the aftershock. Not a good thing for Videl who was now face down on the floor, still unable to move a muscle. Then, just as suddenly as it began everything stopped, the light, the wind, and the breathing abilities of every single person in the gymnasium. The two figure, who had stopped whimpering in all the commotion, slowly got to their feet and walked over to Red.  
  
"Actually. we did that. How are you gonna stop us?" Red looked at them shocked for only a moment before putting his strange gun at them.  
  
"This is how boys!"  
  
"Are you stupid or something? First of my mom used me to test how strong that thing is. I know how to break it so you, you probably couldn't even hit us anyway." Red looked at the figure in black and fired the gun, almost point blank at him. The boy was not hit, however, even though none of the people in the room saw him move an inch. "See what I mean. Plus you never told us you had anything to do with the Red Ribbon Army; we'll get in even bigger trouble if my dad and his brother find us here. My dad may have laughed it off before but because it was them who made those androids, dad'll kill me too." He took the weapon out of Red's hand and tossed it to the figure in white. Red could do nothing but stare at the two boys in shock.  
  
"But. but I thought you wanted to help me take over the world?"  
  
"No. not really. Why would we help you if we can do it ourselves?" he smirked at Red and kicked him off the stage, Red landed unceremoniously on the ground below and now everyone stared at the two small figures. The one in black slowly began to float and hovered on level with the microphone on the stage. The figure in white, meanwhile, had put the weapon down and was helping Videl to stand back up, still in her paralyzed state. "Now we are the ones in charge, and unless you give us everything we want we'll kill you all. And I have no problem with using you all as target practice, moving targets are best anyway." Some members of the crowd began to cry loudly at the young boy's menacing statement.  
  
"And what we want is." The figure in white added, "Is candy!!" The crying stopped and every jaw dropped to the ground. The other boy rolled his eyes and turned back to the crowd. "Umm. candy is good, but we also want other stuff like a castle of our own! Yeah we're the Dastardly Duo of Death and Destruction and we're in charge!"  
  
AN: That name for them really sucks, but people insisted I update, so if ya got an idea for a better name I'll happily use it. Yeah I know I took a long time with this one but I really can't spend all my time writing! Review the story RIGHT NOW! 


	12. Mysteries Unveiled

AN: Ok this chapter is about Gohan. If you didn't know the ship he stole was the same model as the one Goku took to Namek and Vegeta went thru space to find Goku, so it technically is a GR that flies. We finally discover the true identity of the shadowy figure! I think some of you will be pleasantly surprised by this even though he acted a little OOC by kidnapping Dende, but then if I feel like it you guys may also learn about the REAL bad guy, but I don't know about that cause I still haven't named him as of yet. But here I am anyway. Don't forget to review at the end! SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 12 Mysteries Unveiled  
  
Gohan was training hard. He didn't know what to expect out of this battle, but he didn't want to risk it. He could still feel Dende's Ki, which meant that either whoever kidnapped him didn't know Gohan had told Lime everything, and gave her instructions to tell the others, or whoever it was didn't care because Gohan was already on his way. Gohan was hoping that the first was true, because that would mean that the kidnapper couldn't read minds. He began his trip by training under 200 times normal gravity (200 Gs) and had been increasing it by 50 Gs every hour for the past twenty four hours (AN: Yes I know that that is 1400 Gs but lets just say its possible for our hero with limitless power, I mean granted he's probably in Super Saiyan form to survive as it gets really high, so it works). The ship was on autopilot, where it was going exactly he wasn't too sure, but he knew it was well outside the known universe. The ship thankfully traveled much faster than the speed of light, otherwise he wouldn't get to his destination for a few millennia, instead of the twenty- five hours it was currently taking him.  
  
Gohan was resting when he felt the ship land at it's predetermined destination. Gohan exited the ship and looked around. *This place gives me the creeps. I mean it looks like a barren wasteland, the only thing I can see is. THAT'S THE OTHER SHIP! * Gohan took off for the familiar shape in the distance. He arrived in only moments and saw Dende sitting outside the ship. Gohan attempted to reach him but was stopped in his tracks by a cloaked figure.  
  
"If you want Dende you have to fight me." The figure stated calmly, pulling out a sword and pointing it at Gohan. (AN: I CAN"T WRITE FIGHT SCENES!! Ack, I know what you're all thinking "What the hell is she doing writing a fic based on a fighting soap opera if she can't write a long and pointless fight scene!" But lay off I've actually never tried it before so there :-P Suffer!) Gohan lunged and landed a punch in the figure's stomach. He dropped the sword to the ground in shock, Gohan was faster than he had expected, even in his normal form. Gohan landed a kick and sent the figure flying to the ground, but he never hit. He reappeared behind Gohan attempting a roundhouse kick to the head, but Gohan grabbed his leg and stopped the kick, he then powered up a Ki blast and released it right in the man's face. Gohan let go of his leg as he plummeted towards the ground and hit, face first, creating a large crater. He struggled to get up out of the crater and as he did so Gohan noticed that his hood had been disintegrated by the blast revealing his face.  
  
"TRUNKS!?" Gohan screamed as he walked up to the man, his mouth hanging open in shock.  
  
Trunks struggled to smile at Gohan's reaction, "The one and only, well maybe not since I'm in this timeline again. but yeah." He coughed and Gohan held out his hand to the man and helped him to his feet. Trunks dusted himself off and then looked up at Gohan smiling sheepishly. "Sorry Gohan, but I had to see how strong you were. And man, I really should have gone super, I never thought anyone who looks as wimpy as you could be that strong!" Trunks rubbed his stomach trying to lessen the pain.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TRUNKS!! Why on Earth did you kidnap Dende, and make me come after you ALONE, and prepare for a fight. I mean, no offense, but I really didn't need to train that hard to defeat YOU!"  
  
"Wow Gohan, I feel so much more confident in my abilities now." Trunks stated rather sarcastically. "But I'm not the person you needed to prepare to fight."  
  
"You're not the one who kidnapped Dende?"  
  
"No. I did kidnap Dende. But I only did it so that you would come here so we could talk." Trunks gushed nervously eyeing Gohan, looking for any sign that the black haired boy was going to attack him once again.  
  
"What are you talking about? What's going on Trunks?"  
  
"He owes me an explanation as well Gohan." Gohan turned at this new voice and came face to face with Dende who, during the course of the conversation, had left the area around the ship and was now standing behind him, looking highly annoyed. "After I woke up he said that Earth was too dangerous right now and that we were going somewhere very important. But he wouldn't tell me what was going on, he said we had to wait for you to arrive." Gohan looked curiously back at Trunks. The lavender haired boy averted his eyes to the ground in shame and apparent sadness.  
  
"Why don't we discuss this over some food. it could take a while." The group made their way back to the ship that Trunks' had stolen and Trunks placed food out for himself and Gohan, and gave Dende water to drink. He then flopped down on the seat and began to eat slowly.  
  
"So what's going on Trunks? Why are you back and why did you kidnap Dende?" Gohan asked quietly, also eating slowly and in an unusually reserved manner.  
  
"My world was destroyed."  
  
"What!? How?" Gohan spit out, causing bits of food to fly in every direction. Trunks sighed heavily and slowly began his tale.  
  
"For the past seven years we have slowly been rebuilding our world. The people relied heavily on mother and myself to help them. We used all the resources that Capsule Corps could muster and our world is almost entirely back to the way it was all those years ago before the androids appeared. They wanted mom and I to run things, but she said that she had no desire to become involved in politics and was plenty happy with being a "beautiful, reclusive genius", or so she put it. I promised them all that I would do everything in my power to protect them. but I failed, everyone is dead." Suddenly an alarm went off on the ship. "Oh man I thought I would have more time to explain. but it's too late now. Do you trust me Gohan?"  
  
Gohan stared Trunks in the eyes for a few minutes, as if trying to see directly into his soul. Gohan frowned but nodded yes. Trunks sighed his relief before standing up and placing his sword over his shoulder. "We need to go, this is the battle that you were preparing for, I'll explain about our enemy on the way there. Dende you need to stay here, I don't want the Earth to suffer any more than it already has because its guardian is killed in such a seemingly pointless battle." Dende looked at the man confused but resigned the fact that Trunks was right, he would be of no help in a battle. The two demi Saiyans looked at each other before blasting off over the barren landscape of the desert-like planet.  
  
AN: I know this chapter took me forever to post, and it's really short too. Until Christmas though my posts are going to be really slow, I apologize for this inconvenience. I do promise, however, that I will spend as much time as possible during my Christmas break working on this story and the updates will come at a much faster rate. Now that I'm done ranting on about my pointless life I'll get on with ordering you all to hit the little review button and send me a review for this story. Oh and go read the story "Troubles From the Past" by Stoked, he mentioned me in it!! I feel so loved now. the only thing that could increase my ecstasy is many, many reviews. PLEASE!!! :-D 


	13. Alternate Timelines

AN: Hello again! Sorry these updates are getting slow but I have other things to do. unfortunately. Thank you all so much for the reviews!!! I really can't believe I saw the number 75 next to the word review. I may actually hit 100 I really can't believe it! Anyway I want to clear up the bad guy thing for you all before I start. The guy who calls himself "Red" is the grandson of Commander Red of the Red Ribbon Army, he thinks Goku was the one who killed his grandfather and disgraced his family name. He goes to school with Gohan and knows that Gohan is Goku's son, but not a whole lot else. He took advantage of Gohan being "out of town" and the King of the World coming to the school, to take over. He knows that Gohan won't risk hurting innocent people so that's why he takes Videl hostage, he wants to force Gohan to leave him alone by threatening to hurt her and the King. Also I'm not gonna show the fight between Trunks and Gohan and the bad guy they went to fight, he's of no importance in the long run and I hate him so much that I don't want to waste my time writing what would be a few long fight scenes. Ok then I'm sure that you are all confused to hell right now so I'm gonna get on with the show, make sure you read the author note at the end of this chapter though cause it'll have REALLY important info for you all. SO ON WITH THE STORY!  
  
Chapter 13 Alternate Timelines  
  
"Trunks this is insane!" Gohan practically yelled as the two demi- Saiyans landed in front of Trunk's ship. "Why did we have to kill those idiots?"  
  
"That is something I would also like to know." The two teens turned to see Dende standing in the door of the ship. "I saw the explosions from here, but you two don't look that beat up. So what exactly is going on?"  
  
"You won't believe this Dende! The guys we just easily defeated were apparently responsible for the destruction of the Earth."  
  
"WHAT?? THE EARTH'S BEEN DESTROYED??"  
  
Trunks shook his head in annoyance. "Not your world, the Earth in another timeline. I witnessed the after effects of a battle between Goku and a being known as Buu. The world had been totally destroyed by that monster, even Goku, in a level beyond that of a Super Saiyan level 2, was no match for him. In my search to find a time where I could be of some use I arrived in that world in Other World of all places, because the time line would lock onto your ki, much like your fathers instant transmission. That timeline was the exactly same as yours up to about when you started high school, but I'll get into that in a minute. Anyway, King Yemma told me what had happened there so far. Earth and all its inhabitants where destroyed, with the exception of my father, Goku, Dende and a Mr. Satan and his dog. Goku brought them all to the Supreme Kai's planet. Mr. Satan took the credit for your defeat of Cell in that time line too."  
  
Gohan scratched the back of his head in classic Son style, "Uh, yeah. He he. I.er...he.probably didn't want the publicity anyways, and Mr. Satan seems to love it. It never hurt any one." Gohan continued to grin sheepishly as Trunks just laughed at him.  
  
"You let a weakling like that take your credit, but then again your family has always been shrouded in secrecy. I guess that people would get a little freaked if they found out that you were the half alien son of a former world champion, Son Goku, that you were trained in martial arts and wilderness survival by King Piccolo at the age of 5. Then went on to get the better of a maniacal, intergalactic tyrant on another planet light years from Earth while most of them were still learning what two plus two is. I think they would be just as interested to find out that you are close personal friends with the alien responsible for the destruction of East City, the famous Yamcha the Bandit, CEO of Capsule Corporation Bulma Briefs, and the God of the Earth. But then there is also the juicy secret that you were the infamous "delivery boy" who really defeated Cell. Whoa that was a lot of stuff, and if I'm this shocked by it I can imagine that any normal human would do."  
  
"Exactly," Gohan said glumly, "that's why I have to keep it a secret. Oh and you forgot to mention friends with a perverted old martial arts legend by the name of the Turtle Hermit, also known as Master Roshi, a former mass murdering android, and a man from the future. Not to mention the fact that I am really the Gold Fighter and the Great Saiyaman. The press would eat me alive." Trunks started to laugh but stopped suddenly.  
  
"So she kept her word?" he asked suspiciously.  
  
"Yeah. Even has a kid now."  
  
"WHAT!? How is that even possible?"  
  
"She was once human, and she and Krillin.."  
  
"I'll never believe that she truly reformed Gohan, those two killed everyone I cared for, except my mother of course, but she always seemed so lost without the rest of the gang around. That's not why I'm here though. The reason I traveled to this timeline is to help you defeat a new enemy. You see I brought you here, to this planet, so that you could defeat that creepy lizard Babidi and stop the monster Majin Buu from being released unto the universe. But that's not the only reason. I had to kidnap Dende because that was the only way I could think of to get you off the planet without them knowing."  
  
"So I was a pawn in this little game? Why couldn't you at least tell me what was going on Trunks?" Dende asked angrily.  
  
"I'm sorry but I knew that this enemy has powers even greater than your own Dende, he can read and manipulate the minds of the weak and release hidden desires."  
  
"So is this new enemy is the one who set up that little project for Gohan to do?"  
  
"Yes, yes it was them that were responsible for that. They planted the idea in your teachers' head for such a project, and with a little work, were able to have everything go according to their plan. I believe that their intention was to put Gohan so far on edge that when they confronted the group it would be easier to win, but I'm not sure exactly. You see. it was a Saiyan that was leading the attack on my world."  
  
"WHAT!?" Gohan and Dende screamed at the same time. "How could a Saiyan do this? Saiyans aren't more powerful than me Trunks, at least not when it comes to non-fighting abilities." Dende stated quizzically.  
  
"She wasn't in charge, more like a general in an army. They wore me down with sheer numbers. After they.they.they killed my mother and I was force into hiding. I learned to keep my thoughts hidden from them and learned that they couldn't sense ki, but instead they use a type of scouter, one that doesn't blow up when power levels get to high."  
  
"But," Dende interrupted, "what's their purpose here? What do they want?"  
  
"Well, from what I can tell they have been traveling from timeline to timeline taking over everyone they could. The female Saiyan has been defeated though, by you Gohan, and you seem to be the one that they're afraid of most."  
  
"It seems that you are the most feared warrior in the entire multiverse." Gohan, Dende and Trunks jumped when they heard this new voice, none of them had sensed anyone approaching. They turned to see two figures, both wearing strange clothes. The taller figure, who was at least seven feet tall, had long white hair while the short one had a spiky mohawk on his purple colored head. The smaller figure was the one who had spoken, a sly smile spread across his face as the trio stared at him in confusion. "Have no fear for I am not your enemy. Do you not recognize me, Guardian of the Earth?"  
  
"You seem familiar somehow. you are one of the Kais, aren't you?"  
  
"He is not 'one of the Kais' mortal," the tall man stated self righteously, "He is the Supreme Kai!"  
  
"The. the Supreme Kai!" Dende started. "But why are you here? Is this new enemy really that dangerous?"  
  
The Supreme Kai looked at Trunks and his smile spread. "No, I know nothing of this enemy who you are facing, but this boy here, Trunks is it, knows why I am here." Dende and Gohan turned to Trunks.  
  
"Oh yeah!" Trunks said after a moment of thinking, "King Yemma said that you were the one who told them about Majin Buu and helped them in the battle." Trunks turned to the tall man next to the Supreme Kai, "That would make you Kibito, right?" Kibito glared at the young man but nodded once in response.  
  
"What I would like to know is how you beat Debura." The Supreme Kai said quietly.  
  
"Oh," Gohan began, "I did that. He wasn't a very nice guy, he was pretty tough, but overall not extremely hard to defeat, it was fun, and I haven't had a challenge like that in a long time!" Gohan laughed nervously while the Supreme Kai and Kibito stared at him in disbelief, their jaws on the ground.  
  
"IT WAS FUN!!?? He was one of the strongest and most evil being this universe has ever seen!"  
  
"Really? Well he was strong, but he was way too cocky, when I ascended beyond the level of Super Saiyan though I had the upper hand, although not by much very much." Gohan laughed nervously as he watched the Supreme Kai's reaction to his accomplishments.  
  
"How did a mere mortal become more powerful than the King of the Demons?" Kibito gawked.  
  
"Remind me never to underestimate you Gohan. I would like to thank you for defeating Babidi though, I, myself only learned of his plans through a source several of your hours ago. The fate of the alternate timeline may have become our own fate as well if it were not for you and this time traveler. I have ignored this part of the universe for far too long, all would have been lost if not for the two of you. In return I will do all in my power to help you defeat this new enemy who has caused you so much pain." Kibito looked annoyed by the Supreme Kai's promise to help the "mere mortals" in their trivial problems, but he held his tongue.  
  
"Thank you Supreme Kai, your assistance is greatly appreciated," Dende said, bowing to the Supreme Kai before addressing Trunks, "Trunks please continue your story."  
  
"Well, I don't know who their leader is, but it's my main concern. The Saiyan who lead the attack, her name is Ale-jentzu."  
  
"That doesn't sound like a Saiyan name." Gohan pointed out.  
  
"It could be a Saiyan name in her reality, or it could be that she's not a pure blooded Saiyan, both your name and mine aren't Saiyan names either. But her name doesn't matter, she's tough, she even managed to beat me, through deceit though. She has this strange energy draining attack, it changes forms every time she uses it; it's never the same twice. She managed to hit me with it every single time we fought; it drained about half my power every time. If I weren't so cocky that I could have beat her by turning Super Saiyan, but I didn't want them to see that I could transform. I should have done it and suffered with having no more secret weapons left." Trunks hung his head in shame.  
  
"So is this Saiyan General in this timeline now?" Dende asked.  
  
"I don't know, she thinks that she killed me off after our last battle and that's when I took the time machine and started traveling through the timelines looking for one that hadn't been decimated by these. these monsters. Your reality is the first I've found like that, and I've been to twenty different timelines. The only reason yours is still here is because of Gohan. You are the only reason they haven't started an all out attack. From what I overheard you, or alternate versions of you, is the only one who has ever defeated her and her master."  
  
"Well then he can't be that strong can he?" Gohan asked lightly.  
  
"You should not underestimate your opponent Gohan. This enemy knows that you are powerful, yet he is still trying to take over this world. That could mean that he has devised some means to defeat you or is bidding his time until an opportunity, probably one that he has found that worked before, arises." The Supreme Kai stated calmly.  
  
"I guess." Gohan sighed, "So we have an enemy that no one has ever seen, but that some version of me has defeated, and other versions of me have lost to. This Saiyan, Ale-jentzu, has the ability to drain a person's energy, and the army she commands is strong enough and massive enough to wear down a Super Saiyan. And he was trying to remind me of what happened with Cell. maybe he thinks that he can win if he makes me think of myself as a failure?"  
  
"That could be it, either way you need to be on the alert for him. I'm gonna return to Earth with you Gohan, you can say that I helped you find Dende or something. The less people that know about this the less likely they will be able to find out what is going on. Their real leader can only read the minds of the weak; people like us can use our ki to mask our thought. I'll be sure to teach you both how to do it before we land on Earth."  
  
"Let me take you back to Earth, Kibito can easily transport you there. I will keep in contact with Dende, inside your Room of Spirit and Time, he will not be able to sense my presence if I am inside there. (AN: In case you don't know the Room of Spirit and Time is the same as the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, I'll probably use those two terms interchangeably, sorry for any confusion.) Take my hand." Trunks capsulated the space ship and he, Dende, and Gohan linked together with the Supreme Kai and Kibito; in a flash of bright light they all disappeared.  
  
AN: The Saiyan female in this chapter is based on an idea by Gohan-Kun Shin so thanks to her for that!! This was one of the most confusing and bad chapters that I have ever written in my life. I cannot thank my fellow author, Stoked, enough for editing this enough for all of us to understand it, yes I even confused myself with what I wrote (READ HIS STORY "Troubles from the Past" NOW!). He, and many other friends, also helped me FINALLY decide on the identity of the bad guy, who I still did not know the identity of as I wrote this chapter. I may not update again until after my exams end on Dec 18th so until then! ( PLEASE REVIEW!!! 


	14. The Return

AN: Hello again! Sorry this update took so long, but finals are finally over and I have my very own brand new laptop!! HAPPY!! Anyway this one backtracks a little to show you what was going on in Videl's mind when the world was being overthrown by the chibis (Hopefully the italicized flashbacks will show up right), then I'm gonna skip over to Gohan and bring the story together so it'll probably be a long chapter (I write this before I start the chapter so I may change my mind as I go and yeah. whatever). Thank you all for the reviews, I've gone back and reposted all the old chapters to fix a few inconsistencies, some contradictions in "Red" 's character and such but nothing major enough for any of you to re read if you don't want to. SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 14 The Return  
  
Videl couldn't move. The harder she tried the stronger whatever force that held her seemed to get. *AARRGGG!!* she screamed mentally as the force that held her intensified yet again, causing her even more physical pain. *Why can't I move, what exactly is this that he's holding me in. this has to be another trick, like the ones the guys at the Cell Games used. "You see Videl, my dad. he died. He was killed by Cell seven years ago ." Whoa what the hell was that cause that definitely wasn't my voice! "Your dad did all those tricks that the guys at the Cell games did, can you do them?" Uh. that one was.*  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen of the world," the boy started grandiosely, "Today is a day to rejoice. Behind me stand two figures you all recognize, Satan Videl, daughter of the great Hercule, and your dear King of the Earth, both of whom are now my prisoners." Videl glared at him as she continued to struggle to free herself. "I would like to announce to you all that I am the new ruler of this planet. Many years ago, my grandfather, the great Commander Red attempted to rule this world, he failed due to an unforeseen obstacle, but I will not make the same mistake as my ancestor. Where he failed I have succeeded, the Red Ribbon Army now controls this world!" He paused and looked at Videl who was still struggling, and smirked evilly before continuing on with his tirade.  
  
"Anyone who tries to stop me will be defeated just as easily as Videl was, I have ultimate power! I am unbeatable! MWHAHAHAHA!!!" he laughed maniacally. *EASY!!!! WHO THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE IS!!* Videl screamed in her mind, but kept her moth shut knowing that the pain would only increase if she opened it. *I am the daughter of the world champ! "I want to fight you; I want to see who is stronger. It'll be great, the son of the former champ and the daughter of the current champ." Ok that WAS my voice. but I don't remember saying that. "No Videl, you promised. Besides I haven't fought seriously in seven years and I'm not gonna start now. If I couldn't save my dad's life by fighting then there's no point in fighting at all." That voice sounds so familiar. but who is he and why can't I seem to remember this. Oww. my head.* Now I will return to King's Palace and await the one whom is responsible for my grandfather's defeat, if he does not arrive then people will die, city by city, everything will be destroyed! MWHAH." There was a sudden explosion and all the cameras in the gym exploded. The man who called himself Red looked around in shock, "WHO RUINED MY PRESS CONFERENCE! IF YOU DON'T SHOW YOURSELF NOW I'LL DESTROY EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM!!!!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, into the microphone too. The noise caused made everyone in the room cover their ears, but also caused moans of agony to be echoed around the gym. Red turned to see the two figures dressed as ninjas, on the floor holding their ears and screaming bloody murder, right next to the largest speaker in the gym.  
  
Suddenly everything began to shake violently, and said speaker flew across the gym in a flash of golden light. Red and the others near him were forced to cover their eyes due to the intense light and were even knocked to the ground by the aftershock. Not a good thing for Videl who was now face down on the floor, still unable to move a muscle. *This really isn't my day is it?* She thought glumly. Then, just as suddenly as it began, everything stopped, the light, the wind, and the breathing abilities of every single person in the gymnasium. The two figure, how had stopped whimpering in all the commotion, slowly got to their feet and walked over to Red. (AN: This just recaps a previous chapter for a while so if you remember it well skip ahead to the part with Gohan for all I care.)  
  
"Actually. we did that. How are you gonna stop us?" Red looked at them shocked for only a moment before putting his strange gun at them.  
  
"This is how boys!"  
  
"Are you stupid or something? First of my mom used me to test how strong that thing is. I know how to break it so you, you probably couldn't even hit us anyway." Red looked at the figure in black and fired the gun, almost point blank at him. The boy was not hit, however, even though none of the people in the room saw him move an inch. "See what I mean. Plus you never told us you had anything to do with the Red Ribbon Army; we'll get in even bigger trouble if my dad and his brother find us here. My dad may have laughed it off before but because it was them who made those androids, dad'll kill me too." He took the weapon out of Red's hand and tossed it to the figure in white. Red could do nothing but stare at the two boys in shock.  
  
"But. but I thought you wanted to help me take over the world?"  
  
"No. not really. Why would we help you if we can do it ourselves?" he smirked at Red and kicked him off the stage, Red landed unceremoniously on the ground below and now everyone stared at the two small figures. The one in black slowly began to float and hovered on level with the microphone on the stage. The figure in white, meanwhile, had put the weapon down and was helping Videl to stand back up, still in her paralyzed state. "Now we are the ones in charge, and unless you give us everything we want we'll kill you all. And I have no problem with using you all as target practice, moving targets are best anyway." Some members of the crowd began to cry loudly at the young boy's menacing statement.  
  
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In yet another flash of light the five space travelers finally arrived at their destination. "Umm. guys," Gohan asked as he looked around the room they were standing in, "where are we, and why is that desk twenty feet tall?"  
  
Before anyone could answer Gohan, a booming voice yelled from behind the desk, "Who are you? You're not supposed to be here you're not dead!"  
  
"King Yemma," SK said with a bow, "my companions and I were wondering if you had any more information about what has been going on in hell that has you so worked up that you would yell at the Supreme Kai." *So this is King Yemma,* Gohan thought idly as he looked around the room, *Dad never mentioned this place was so huge. hey maybe I can visit him while I'm here!* King Yemma choked as he recognized the Supreme Kai, and began stuttering his apologies, that is until SK put up his hand to stop him. "Please, all we require is information; I must be on my way soon. So if you could please tell us what you know?"  
  
King Yemma straightened himself out and sat back down on his chair before he began to speak. "We. well we don't really have an explanation for it. The ogres (AN: I'm not sure what those horned guys are called so I'm calling them ogres.) that were in charge down there have disappeared along with some of the high security prisoners. Most importantly the ones that were causing trouble down there before, that is until two of the Grand Kai's top students stepped in and stopped them. I hope they haven't found a way to escape back to the physical world. I don't think that even young Gohan here could stop them." Gohan looked at him questioningly  
  
"How did you know my name?"  
  
"Dende there has told me of some of your exploits, as did your father Son Goku. And before you ask, no you can not see him, he is on the Grand Kai's planet training right now and living mortals such as yourself are not permitted there for any reason." Gohan lowered his head in disappointment for a moment.  
  
Suddenly he raised his head up, "Who is this Grand Kai anyway?"  
  
"He is the Overseer of the Universe, pretty much the four Kai's boss." Dende informed him.  
  
"Oh. but isn't that your job Supreme Kai?"  
  
"Yes it is."  
  
"Then are you the Grand Kai?"  
  
"No Gohan, we are two different people."  
  
"So if he has the same job as you, and you do all the work of watching over the universe. then what exactly does he do?"  
  
"Umm. well," SK sweat-dropped, "I really don't know what he does." Everyone stared at the Supreme Kai, shocked that even he did not know what the Grand Kai true purpose in the hierarchy of gods was.  
  
"It really doesn't matter either way and I think it is time for us to return to Earth. When should we expect your next visit Supreme Kai?"  
  
"I will meet you at midnight in two day's time in the room of Spirit and Time," SK responded, "Do not speak my name outside the Time Chamber, if you must, call me Shin instead. We must be going now, until then, farewell my friends and be on guard!" With that the Supreme Kai and Kibito disappeared in a flash of light. Trunks reminded them that he had to teach the young god and hero how to block their thoughts. They picked it up in only a few hours' time and, after saying good bye to King Yemma, returned to Earth.  
  
They all appeared on the Lookout a moment later, causing Mr. Popo to drop his watering car and run up to the trio in tears.  
  
"Dende! Oh you have returned, I am so happy," he said as he hugged Dende tightly.  
  
"Er. It's good to see you too Mr. Popo," Dende said, peeling the genie off of him, "as you can see Gohan, with some. help. from Mirai Trunks has brought me back safe and sound. Now, has anything been happening since I left?"  
  
"Nothing much, Dende sir. well except the Red Ribbon Army has taken over the world."  
  
"WHAT!!!" they all screamed together. Mr. Popo told them that most of the Z gang was at a tournament in the far north and Vegeta and Piccolo were in the Time Chamber so none of them had seen the television broadcast that ended abruptly only a minute before.  
  
"Trunks, do you want to come with me, it'll be fun and we can head to CC after wards to get you a place to stay until everything is over with," Gohan asked as he transformed into his Saiyaman outfit.  
  
"Sure, but do you have to wear that outfit. it looks ridiculous."  
  
"What are you taking about," he does the little poses; "I am the Great Saiyaman!"  
  
Trunks was on the floor laughing by this point, "Oh. my. you look so stupid! I'll let you keep the outfit if you promise to never no those stupid poses again, only frauds try and show off their strength that way."  
  
Gohan thought about Trunks' statement for a moment before agreeing, "If it's ok with you, Trunks, I'm gonna call you Mirai when we get down there so no one knows your name, hurry up and transform so we can get going."  
  
"Ok, ok," Trunks rolled his eyes and went super Saiyan. The two then took off towards Orange Star High School to stop the Red Ribbon Army from controlling the world.  
  
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
  
"And what we want is." The figure in white added, "Is candy!!" The crying stopped and every jaw dropped to the ground. The other boy rolled his eyes and turned back to the crowd. "Umm. candy is good, but we also want other stuff like a castle of our own! Yeah we're the Dastardly Duo of Death and Destruction and we're in charge!"  
  
"I really don't think so," Trunks and Goten looked up to see who it was that was speaking, and when they saw the two figures floating up near the roof of the gymnasium the color drained from their face.  
  
"Umm. please," Trunks began as he backed slowly away from the descending figure of Gohan and Mirai, "we thought that anyone would be better than the Red Ribbon Army so we were gonna take over for a while. we only wanted some candy, please don't kill us!" Videl looked curiously at the young boy, *He had enough power to block a weapon that still has me frozen in place, yet he seems to be afraid of the Great Saiyaman and the other guy with him. that other guy does fit the description of the Gold Fighter, and he looks REALLY familiar too.*  
  
"Yeah big brother we only wanted candy, it was this guy here," Goten said pointing to Red, "really wanted to take over the world and he even frozen that Videl lady with that gun thingy." Gohan looked over to where Videl was lying for the first time sice he had arrived. After staring at the two boys for a moment he walked over and grabbed Videl. He exerted his ki and with a sound like breaking glass Videl dropped to her knees.  
  
"Thank you, they were telling the truth Saiyaman, they weren't behind this they were just in it for the candy. in fact," she said glancing slyly at the still cowering boys, "if it weren't for them he probably would have killed me." Gohan nodded before turning back to glare at the boys.  
  
"So does one of you two want to explain what is going on here? How did FRANKIE manage to take over the world?"  
  
"Uhh. we kinda helped him, but when he started hurting people we stopped him. we just wanted some candy big brother. who is that guy back there?" Goten pointed to Mirai Trunks who had been standing in the background watching the exchanges in amusement.  
  
"Oh that's Mirai, it's a long story though so let's go I'll tell you all I can when we get to West City," Gohan then turned to face Videl, who was glaring at him intently, "Uhhh. Videl. do you think that you can handle this mess. without this thing," Gohan held up the CC freeze gun thingy, "he's not any threat." Videl nodded once before grabbing Frankie by the neck and dragging him off to give to the police force that was gathering outside.  
  
"You ready Mirai? Or do you want to stand there trying not to laugh at us for a while longer?"  
  
"Nope, SAIYAMAN, I think I'm ready... don't lose those two though," he pointed to the two boys who were sneaking out the door. Gohan turned to them and blasted their path, causing them to freeze where they were standing.  
  
"Thanks Mirai, now lets go get these two little demon children back to where they belong."  
  
"Wait," a voice came from the crowd. Gohan turned to see who it was and came face to face with Lime, "I'm sick of this stupid school, can I come too?"  
  
"Sure, but take Nimbus, we'll fly slow so you can keep up, come Mirai, and you two, let's go."  
  
"Uhh. big brother I can't fly remember?"  
  
"Oh yeah. well I guess you'll have to take Nimbus with Lime then, can we go now?" With that Gohan blasted out the doors of the auditorium. Mirai shook his head in amusement before following after him, the two children and Lime running to catch up with the two extremely fast demi Saiyans.  
  
They were all flying through the air before anyone really spoke again. "Goten, Trunks, take off those stupid costumes."  
  
"You should too Gohan," Mirai said as he powered down from SSJ. The Nimbus and Trunks stopped dead in the air.  
  
"You. you look like me!" Trunks said as he and Goten took off their masks and threw them to the ground.  
  
"That's cause he is you Trunks, everyone I would like you to meet Future Trunks, I've been calling him Mirai, and, if you don't mind," he said motioning to Trunks' future counterpart, "we all should probably call you that so as not to get you confused with the runt over there."  
  
"Whoa! I grow up to be cool! And I get a sword," Trunks exclaimed as they started flying again. Mirai laughed at the comment.  
  
"What about me?" Goten pouted.  
  
"Actually," Mirai started, "I have no clue who you are kid, well except for that you're Gohan's brother. In my timeline Goku died before the androids even appeared, so you were never born. Everyone in my timeline was killed by the androids 17 and 18, except myself, my mother, and Gohan."  
  
"So I'm not born. but if I'm not born how am I here?"  
  
"No Goten, he means in his world, mom told me all about the alternate timeline, there was no Cell and Android 18, Krillan's wife, was evil and killed everyone until the other me went came here and trained with dad and got strong enough to beat them both. Mom will be real happy to see you Mirai, she said you saved both of our lives once."  
  
"Yeah, that was only because Vegeta was a heartless jerk, he didn't even bother to save you in that timeline, so I had to. although as far as I've seen he's changed a lot since then. I visited another timeline where he actually sacrificed himself to try and save you and mom. From what I was told, he had knocked Goku out so that he wouldn't stop him from fighting a futile battle. But he did it anyway, even after being told by Piccolo that he would lose his body and be banished to hell, he still did it."  
  
"Ya know, I'm not incredibly surprised, Vegeta may seem as hard as rock but he's changed a lot over the years. When Dad first let him live after their fight here on Earth he gained respect for my father," Gohan paused for a moment at the memory, "and then after he told us of his past and died on Namek he began to care about those around him. But it was after you died Mirai that he really changed, he really loves Bulma and trunks, even though he only shows it in his own very. unique way." Mirai looked at Gohan slightly skeptical of his words but nodded his head in understanding nonetheless.  
  
The two children told the others about Frankie and what he had told them about his plan to rule the world and his reasons for doing so. Gohan promised that they would not tell Bulma or any of the warriors about the two boys' involvement in the takeover of the world. for a price.  
  
"Now," Lime stated glumly, "is explain to Bulma and Chichi why you stole that spaceship Gohan."  
  
"Uh."  
  
AN: Yeah, I left it kinda cliffy but I have to stop or I'll go insane. I actually had to reread all my old chapters so I could remember what was going on, I found a lot of inconsistencies that I cleared up, but if you have any questions please just ask in your review or email me. I finished my fairy tale which is good, and I have a year to write another, at least I have plenty of time this time around. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews I've gotten so far. if you write me a review you can have an imaginary cupcake that has green Christmas frosting and sprinkles!!! 


	15. Explanations

AN: Come on people, I know it's the holidays and all but I WANT REVIEWS!!! I only got like five last chapter, and one was from my brother! Anyways, in this chapter they have to explain everything to Bulma and a not so trusting Vegeta, as well as a surprise guest appearance from an old foe. of sorts. Then hopefully I'll get to the explanation to Videl, which should involve yelling and the past finally coming back to bite Gohan in the a$$ (hehe). SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 15 Explanations  
  
Gohan landed on the front lawn of Capsule Corp and was immediately attacked by two very angry women. "GOHAN WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING STEALING THAT SHIP! YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN YOURSELF KILLED," Chichi yelled as she rushed up and hugged him, "at least you're back safe and sound. But if you ever go off like that again, and without telling me first, then you'll have hell to pay mister."  
  
"Hn. ok mom. can you let go now?" Chichi let do of Gohan before noticing the others standing there snickering at him.  
  
"Why are Goten and Trunks with you? And Lime why aren't you in school?"  
  
"And for that matter," Bulma added coming to stand next to Chichi, "why is the other Trunks here?" Chichi looked over at him for the first time and gasped.  
  
"Oh no don't tell me there is some new monster out there who my poor Gohan will have to fight!"  
  
"Uh, mom. why don't we find Vegeta and I'll tell all three of you at once, ok?" Gohan asked. She nodded and the group went inside CC. They all went to the main living room and were shocked to find none other than Vegeta standing there waiting for them.  
  
"What took you so long, you should have been back a while ago," he said staring at Gohan disapprovingly.  
  
"There was some trouble in Satan City, the Red Ribbon Army took the King of the World hostage."  
  
"THE RED RIBBON ARMY!!!" Chichi and Bulma screamed together.  
  
After uncovering his ears Trunks told them what had transpired, "Yeah, me and Goten saw it on TV and since you and Piccolo were training and Gohan was in space and everyone else was at that tournament we decided to go and stop em. We took out the TV cameras and then Gohan and Future Me appeared and finished the job. so we all came back here to tell you."  
  
"Oh," Bulma stated slightly suspicious of his explanation of events.  
  
"That doesn't explain why you're here boy," Vegeta said glaring at Mirai.  
  
"Uhh. well it's been seven years since I've seen any of you guys and with my world at peace I haven't had much to do. So I decided to see if there was anything to do in this timeline. I arrived in the hanger where Gohan was taking off so I jumped on board and helped him get Dende back," Trunks said remembering their agreed upon cover story, "We defeated the guy who kidnapped Dende, it was this little lizard named Bibidi. He was a wizard and controlled this nasty demon by the name of Debura. but between me and Gohan here we didn't have too much of a problem dealing with them." Mirai looked at everyone and smiled innocently. No one doubted Gohan and Trunk's story, except Vegeta of course.  
  
After Chichi and Bulma finished questioning Mirai and Gohan about what had happened in space it was getting rather late. "Wow, look at the time," Bulma commented, "Why do you and the kids spend the night here Chichi, it's much too late to be heading back out the 439 area, especially with two hungry Saiyans and two teenagers who have to be refreshed for school tomorrow." Chichi nodded her head in agreement and Goten and Trunks started jumping up and down in joy. "Well then we should go and eat dinner now." Bulma had barely even finished the statement when Goten and Trunks were already out the door. The two older women shook their heads with amusement and, long with Lime, followed the boys to the dinning room. Gohan and Mirai stood up to follow when they were stopped by Vegeta.  
  
"Why did you lie brat?" Vegeta was glaring at Gohan and Mirai, causing them both to gulp in fear.  
  
"What makes you think we were lying Vegeta?"  
  
"Because I felt the ki of the guy who kidnapped Dende when he stole the first space ship, it was not a dark wizard or a demon. It was not evil at all. and felt strangely like your ki, brat," he said as he focused his glare on Mirai.  
  
Mirai looked to Gohan for suggestions but he just shrugged his shoulders, "Well father. I can't say here, there are people listening in on our conversation. I will tell you soon I'm sorry. please don't ask any more questions that I can't answer now." With that Mirai turned and walked out of he room, his head hung low in shame.  
  
"We only lied out of necessity Vegeta. He only wants you to be proud of him though. Sometime soon he and I will have to go meet a contact, if you come with us we'll explain everything, just don't ask anymore questions until then." Vegeta continued to glare at Gohan for a moment then "humph" ed his agreement before stalking off to diner himself. *Now all I have to worry about is Videl. She probably will wonder where I was for the past two days, and then the next time I appear as the Great Saiyaman I'll have to explain what happened with Goten and Trunks.* Gohan moaned in anger and frustration before finally turning to go and eat with the others.  
  
After a rather uneventful dinner Gohan, Chichi, Lime and Mirai were shown to their rooms, Goten of course was staying in his normal room, one that connected to Trunks' (AN: So they could devise their devious plots all night long, hehe!). The next morning Gohan and Lime headed off to school in their normal fashions, Lime on Nimbus and Gohan flying in his Saiyaman outfit. They arrived on the roof of the school with time to spare, an amazing feat for Gohan.  
  
"GOHAN!!!" Screamed a small blonde as she jumped up to hug Gohan, "I've missed you SO much! Where have you been?" Gohan turned deep red as he attempted to pry Erasa off of him; Lime was too busy laughing at Gohan to be of any help to him in loosening her death grip.  
  
"Umm. Erasa if you let go of me so I can breathe right again, I'll tell you." Erasa let go of her hold on his neck, but wrapped her arms around his to keep him from going anywhere without her. "I friend of mine, named Dende, got himself into some trouble, and I had to go bail him out."  
  
"Is this Dende famous for something too?" They turned round to see Videl standing there. (AN: She sneaks up on them a lot doesn't she?)  
  
"You'll just have to wait and find out now won't you?" Gohan said smiling at her. She glared at him once again and sat down in her seat. Lime, meanwhile, was laughing at Videl's gross understatement of fact. *Dende.. Famous.. I can't wait to see the look on her face when she finds out who he REALLY is.*  
  
"Anyway, Lime, I was wondering how is it that you know the Great Saiyaman?" With that Lime stopped laughing. She tensed up and glanced over at Gohan, actions that didn't go unnoticed by Videl.  
  
"Umm.." She looked nervously at Gohan again. "Well uhh.. you see he.. umm.. I really can't say.. I'm sorry."  
  
"Right and why can't you say? At least can you tell me who those two boys were? They wore masks the whole time, and they owe me for covering for them." Videl was now glaring at Lime.  
  
"I can't tell you that either but trust me when I say that Saiyaman and his friend are going to punish those two in their own way. It's a very interesting punishment actually." She began to laugh again, even under Videl's death glare.  
  
"Fine, be that way. Gohan we have to work on the next part of our project tomorrow after school."  
  
"Sure Videl, what is this part on by the way?" Gohan said smiling at Videl, trying to take her mind off of Lime's continuing laughter.  
  
"We have to go to Ginger Town; that was the first place that Cell attacked outright."  
  
"I remember hearing about that.. It's a suburb of West City right?" Videl nodded in response. "Hmm.. I have an idea." Gohan turned to Lime and grinned. "I think you and I should stay in West City until this part of the project is over. We can stay with Bulma at Capsule Corp." Lime looked at him oddly.  
  
"Why should we do that Gohan? I mean, I really don't want to be in a house with Vegeta, even if the house is as big as CC is," Lime pouted, "You can if you want, but I don't have to do this project, in fact I'm not gonna be in school for much longer anyways.."  
  
"What do you mean Lime? Where are you going," Gohan asked, curiously.  
  
"I have other things that I have to do Gohan; I know that I don't belong here.." Everyone was staring at Lime, trying to figure out what she meant. Lime was oblivious to this though as she was staring off into space, an extremely serious expression on her face. But, before anyone could ask Lime anymore questions, the teacher walked into the class and they were all forced to pay attention to the lesson being taught.  
  
No one brought up the earlier conversation for the rest of the school day, and it went by quickly and uneventfully. After school Lime and Gohan returned to Capsule Corp, where Chichi and Goten still were. Against Lime's better judgment she agreed to stay with Gohan in CC for the rest of the week so he could "do his school work better and more efficiently". They all were unaware of Gohan's true reason for staying at CC for the rest of the week.  
  
*Good,* Gohan thought as he lay in the grass, *My house is much harder to sneak out of than CC, and if Bulma sees any of us then we'll just tell her were going out for a little training.. Or not.. Midnight training sessions with Mirai and Vegeta in tow may seem odd. Oh well, I'll leave the explanations to Vegeta.* The door to the indoor park swished open and Mirai walked in. He saw Gohan lying on the grass and quietly moved over and sat down next to him.  
  
"What are you thinking about Gohan?" He said after a few minutes of silence.  
  
"Everything.. The meeting with Shin, you've heard that I'll be staying here?" Mirai nodded in response. "It'll be easier now that I'm here for a few days, less chance of being caught." Mirai nodded once again. There was silence once again as the two demi Saiyans sat in contemplation, the only sound to be heard was that of a frog "ribbet"ing strangely.  
  
A few minutes later the door swished open again and Vegeta and Trunks walked in the door. Vegeta knew that Gohan and Mirai were there but did nothing to acknowledge their presence.  
  
"Brat," Vegeta said to Trunks, "I want you to go and find the creature that is responsible for the odd sound echoing around this room. Don't kill it; bring it back to me.. I have something interesting to show you." Trunks immediately went in search of the frog and found it in less that a minute. Gohan and Mirai looked at each other questioningly for a moment before returning their gaze to Vegeta and his strange lesson. Vegeta then took the creature and moved into Gohan and Mirai's eyesight before continuing.  
  
"Now brat, watch this." Vegeta released the frog-like creature from his grasp and it sat there cowering under his stare, "You sad excuse for a creature.. If you don't amuse me in the next thirty seconds I'll blast you into the next dimension."  
  
*What is Dad doing?* Both Trunks' thought simultaneously, *Has he gone insane or something.. He's talking to a frog.* But before either could voice their confusion the frog jumped into action and began doing as many strange poses as it could. Trunks was on the floor rolling with laughter as he watched the frog. Mirai, meanwhile, was staring in shock. Gohan turned as white as a ghost as he realized what, or should I say WHO that creature was.  
  
"Mirai," Gohan asked softly, "please tell me I don't look like that when I'm Saiyaman."  
  
Mirai, stifling a laugh, responded, "No, you have that bucket on your head making you look even funnier." No longer able to contain himself Mirai burst out laughing as well.  
  
Gohan was a pale green by now, "If I ever try and do a stupid pose again, hit me as hard as you can to knock some sense into me alright..."  
  
"Sure.. Gohan.." Mirai gasped between laughs. Vegeta smirked at Gohan before grabbing the frog again.  
  
"That's enough fun Brat, let's get back to training." Vegeta threw the frog creature all the way across the park, its tiny body hitting the wall with a crunch.  
  
AN: Hehe, I hope you liked that last part. I GOT RID OF THE POSES YAY!!! I don't know what happened to Ginyu really so don't flame me and say isn't there, it's just a random moment of comic relief. Anyway, I've decided to start a mailing list thing, so if you want an email when I update a chapter just tell me in a review or an email, everyone in my yahoo mail address book is already on it (so if I sent you an email for this chapter and you want off the list tell me in the same fashion). Anyway, there may not be another chapter for a few weeks, I haven't pieced together all the stuff about the bad guy as of yet so I need to do that before I can really continue, but I have a backup plan if I can't find he info I need, so no worries! I hope to post again before I restart school on the 13th but who knows.. Anyway PLEASE REVIEW!!!! 


	16. The Truth Foretold

AN: I GOT 100 REVIEWS!!!!! (*Does happy Snoopy dance!*) Triple Creasent has the honor of being my 100th reviewer, and (using her other pen name), was my first reviewer as well!! How very special...and, as a reward... I'm going to get closer to what she wants to hear. I think what she wants will have to take place a more... humorous... time. Anyway, this should be an excruciatingly long chapter, but some interesting stuff happens (at least I hope it's interesting). SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 16 The Truth Foretold  
  
Videl sat in class, staring off into space, *That voice... it's so familiar. Who is it though? The voice is male, and I said "son" while talking to him. I know he's the son of a former world champion, one who was killed by Cell seven years ago, and he may know how the mysterious fighters at the Cell Games seemed to fly and blow things up. WHO IS HE?! And why can't I remember having that conversation...* Videl looked over at her fellow classmates. Sharpner was sitting with his head in his hands, trying, yet failing, to stay awake. Erasa was shifting her gaze between the teacher and the boy sitting next to her, spending more time staring at the boy than at the teacher. Gohan was being Gohan, paying attention to the teacher while being at least three steps ahead of her at the same time. Finally Videl's gaze fell on Lime. When she had first met Lime she hadn't liked her that much, Lime kept secrets, something Videl didn't like. But, like Gohan, she had a pure and innocent soul, one that made her hard to hate, even with her secrets.  
  
The bell finally rang, causing all the students to jump up and run for the door, all the students except for a few towards the back. Gohan and his friends were in no particular rush to leave school that day; they still had a project to work on. After packing up and walking out the door the teens split up and went to their respective lockers before meeting in front of the school a few minutes later.  
  
"Ok," Videl started, "I have permission to fly as far as West City but we can't all fit in my jet copter."  
  
"Well I can take someone with me in my car and we can drive," Sharpner volunteered, "but you'll get there before me Videl, so we should meet somewhere."  
  
"I have an idea," Lime chimed in, "Why don't Gohan and I go with Videl and Erasa go with you and we all meet up at Capsule Corp. That is if it's ok with you Videl?" Lime smiled sweetly at Videl.  
  
"Well," Videl said, "I guess that works." *And I'll have ample time to question Gohan and Lime about what they are both hiding...* "So let's get going." Gohan shook his head in amazement; Lime had worked out her plan perfectly. Videl de-capsulated her jet copter and the trio got inside and took off.  
  
"So..." Lime said after a few minutes of tense silence.  
  
"Why did you want me, you and Gohan in the jet copter, Lime?" Videl asked glaring at Lime suspiciously out of the corner of her eye.  
  
"Oh, that, well I thought it was a really good idea at the time. But I did have an ulterior motive.. I don't want anything to do with your project, way too many bad memories, but Gohan convinced me to stay in West City with him until this whole project thing is done. I really just wanted a quick ride back to CC and I didn't feel like going with Sharpner or Erasa, so here we are."  
  
"Ok, that explains why you wanted to meet at Capsule Corp but why didn't you just use your normal ride home, and why is Gohan here... No offense to you Gohan."  
  
"Right..." Gohan said sarcastically. Videl turned and glared at him, "I was joking, just watch where we're going please Videl. I hate these old jet copter things..."  
  
"OLD!!! This thing is the best jet copter on the market!"  
  
"Exactly, Bulma doesn't release anything for sale until she already has created something at least twice as good, it guarantees that she'll have the best there is for sale."  
  
"Whatever, are you going to answer my questions or not Lime?"  
  
"Yeah, that was amusing though. Well I didn't use Nimbus cause Goten has it for the time being."  
  
"LIME!!! She's not supposed to know about Nimbus!"  
  
"Um... oops. She saw me use it when you were away Gohan, I'm really sorry.." Lime said, her green eyes brimming with tears.  
  
"No don't cry!" Gohan said waving his hands in front of him as if to ward of the action, "It's all right, just don't cry." Lime smiled smugly at Gohan as he continued, "So Videl, what did you think of Nimbus?"  
  
"Actually I want to know something Gohan, how is it that your father knew Master Roshi?"  
  
"Umm..." Gohan gulped, "actually, my dad trained under Master Roshi..."  
  
"YOUR father knew martial arts?"  
  
"Yeah, he knew a little, he only trained under him for a year or so though." (AN: Technically he only trained with Master Roshi for that year before the first Tournament, unless my sense of DB/Z time is distorted again...)  
  
"Oh, well, I do like the cloud. Do you think that I could ride it sometime?"  
  
"Well, he is kinda picky about whom he lets ride, but you're welcome to try someday if you really want to."  
  
"Thanks a lot Gohan; I've always wanted to fly without one of these jet copters, ever since I saw the Cell Games broadcast... but Dad says they only flew by using tricks." Videl sighed. Gohan looked over to Videl wondering, *I wonder what she thinks of my flying all the time when I help her fight crime, no wonder she wants to find Saiyaman's alter ego, she wants to see how it is that I fly the way I do...*  
  
"That must have been heartbreaking, hearing that you couldn't fly the way they could." Lime said to Videl, but watching Gohan's expression as he stared at Videl.  
  
"Yeah, it kinda was..." Gohan sat deep in thought, *Maybe I'll talk to her as Saiyaman, explain that I really can fly, hey maybe I can even teach her one day... when she's ready for the truth.* "Well, we're here." Videl said as the Capsule Corp building came into sight. "Gohan, where should I land this thing?"  
  
"Hmm... never really thought of that..... Well, just land in the grass there in the back of the building." Gohan pointed to a large open area close to CC's main building. Videl landed the jet copter and the trio stepped out. Videl re-capsulated the vehicle and they walked inside the building via a back door. The teens walked through some of the hallways looking for Bulma.  
  
"Hey Gohan, Lime," said a voice from behind them. Gohan turned and saw Trunks standing behind them.  
  
"Oh, hi Trunks; where're your parents at?"  
  
"Well mom's out in the hanger and dad's training like normal... The other one is in the park; he always seems really excited to hang out or actually train with dad but he also has this tendency to sit in the park and stare at the trees and stuff like a sap."  
  
"Be nice Trunks, he had a really hard life. How would you like it if Vegeta and Goten and everyone else were dead? His home was decimated; nature is something he's never really seen in its entirety." Gohan said, once again making Videl suspicious of his words.  
  
"What do you mean "other one" and what happened to him?" Videl asked looking to Trunks for the answers, since she knew Gohan would never give her a straight answer.  
  
"The "other one" is a relative, he looks almost exactly like an adult version of me," Trunks said while participating in a glaring contest with Gohan, "and his whole town and everything and everyone in and around it were destroyed when he was just a kid. His mother, his sensei, and he were the only survivors."  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry..." Videl said averting her eyes to the ground.  
  
"Don't worry about it Videl," Gohan said taking his eyes off of Trunks, "Why don't you and Lime go to the private living room and wait, while I go and find Bulma?" Videl and Lime both nodded their heads and Lime led the way down the hall. Gohan then turned back to Trunks. "Ya know, I think I overestimated your evil streak Trunks. I could have sworn that you would have used that opportunity to tell Videl about, well, everything."  
  
"I only kept my moth shut because I was hoping that you would, maybe... not punish me for what I did at your school?" Trunks tried to look as innocent as possible, but, being the son of Vegeta, it was a task that he could not easily accomplish.  
  
"Don't think so Trunks, but if you keep up the nice kid act 'til then maybe I'll lessen it... just a little." Gohan waved to Trunks as he headed towards the hanger where Bulma was fixing up the spaceship that Gohan had taken into space.  
  
"Yeah right," Trunks muttered as he watched Gohan's retreating figure, "If you won't do that for me maybe I should tell dad your little secret, like who that girl REALLY is..." Trunks smirked and walked off to find the two girls who had been left alone somewhere in CC. Trunks walked down the halls for ten minutes, trying to remember where it was that Gohan had told them to wait. "Damn, why can't I find those two in my own house? I wonder where dad is.. Hehe, he's not in the GR anymore, wait... Why don't I just sense them out?" Trunks slapped his hand up against his forehead as he extended his senses and located the two girls, only two rooms away from his current location.  
  
Lime and Videl had gotten slightly lost in their search for the private living area. As they walked through the halls Videl suddenly stooped in front of a door that was slightly ajar. "Hey, what's in here?" she asked pushing the door open as she spoke.  
  
"Videl! You really shouldn't snoop around; Vegeta would be really pissed if he found you somewhere you REALLY shouldn't be." Lime attempted to pull the girl down the hall but Videl broke free of her grip and entered the room.  
  
The room itself looked like a library of sorts, but it also had a large screen hanging on one wall and a projector facing it. The walls themselves were filled top to bottom with books and plans; some looked very old while others were still glistening with wet ink. There was a large fireplace off to one side and a loveseat facing the fire, a small end table off to one side of it. The mantle of the fireplace was the thing that Videl eventually focused on. It was full of pictures, pictures of Bulma and people that looked like her friends and family.  
  
Videl picked up a picture taken of Bulma and her friends when she was only a teenager. "This is Ms. Briefs... and the man with his arm on her shoulder is Yamcha isn't it?" Lime looked over Videl's shoulder and glanced at the picture.  
  
"Yeah, I think that's Yamcha, they used to date, and the cat above their heads is named Puar, he's Yamcha's oldest friend. The two kids are Krillin, he's the bald one, and the other one is Gohan's father. I don't know about that pig though, or the other woman..." Videl nodded her head and looked at the photo for a moment longer before replacing it and picking up another.  
  
This was a photo of Goku and the others after the 23rd Tournament. "Ya know," Videl said, "This guy, you said he was Gohan's father, he looks really familiar." Lime looked at the picture for a moment seemingly deep in thought.  
  
"Well I guess he would look really familiar to you, since you are a fighter and all. Gohan has this same picture at his house, he said it was taken after his parents wedding, that's them in the middle," she said pointing to Goku and Chichi, "There's Master Roshi and the others I said before, oh and those two are Tien and Chaoutzu, Tien may look familiar as well cause he was the winner of the 22nd Tournament..."  
  
"You two really shouldn't be in here." The two girls jumped at the sound, Videl dropped the picture causing the glass to shatter as it hit the ground. "Mom liked that picture too. She said it celebrated the "victory of a true warrior and not a buffoon", it was the only thing mom and dad could really agree upon when it came to Goku."  
  
"I'm sure that's not true," Videl said as she started to pick up the pieces that had scattered all around her, "there are some things that you can't argue... Like a person's name for instance."  
  
"Nope," Trunks said as he sat down on the loveseat to watch the girls pick up the glass on the ground, "they couldn't even agree on that, dad says that since Goku isn't his real name he shouldn't have to call him by it."  
  
"Goku... That name sounds so familiar..." Videl trailed off as she tried to think off where she had heard that name before. She stopped though when she caught something out of the corner of her eye. She picked it up, *Hmmm... I wonder what this is? It must have been hidden inside of the picture but why?* Videl opened the small piece of paper and gasped. "What the hell!!??" Trunks was up faster than they could see and snatched the photo right from Videl's hands.  
  
He looked at the picture and paled, "This is something that proves you shouldn't be in here at all. Now, why don't I take you to the proper place and you can wait for Gohan. Oh and don't mention that you saw this picture, not to anyone or you'll not like what you're told." The two girls followed behind Trunks as the young boy led them to the private living area and told them to stay put, then left them there.  
  
"The people in that picture, they were floating!" Videl said angrily to Lime after Trunks was gone, "How do people do tricks like that? And why does Bulma Briefs have a picture of people floating, and one of them was her husband!!"  
  
"Videl, please be quiet!" Lime said trying to calm the older girl down, "I hate to tell you this Videl but Vegeta doesn't like people very much, and if he heard you calling him Bulma's "husband" he'd kick your a$$."  
  
"Yeah right, I AM the daughter of the World Champion and the second strongest person in the world, he couldn't beat me if he wanted to."  
  
"Ya know Videl," Lime was glaring at Videl rather angrily, "you really aren't the second strongest in the world, and don't interrupt me," she said as she saw Videl open her mouth to protest, "If you would stop being so arrogant and closed minded you might just learn something. There are other ways of doing things then the way you know, maybe, just maybe, people really can fly; and if so then maybe those people are stronger than you. If you just thought for a second that there is more out there than you can explain then maybe you'd have more friends. You spend all your time trying to find a flaw in the people around you, you don't have any faith in people Videl and that scares people away. I do understand that you are skeptical of people due to your line of work as a crime fighter but that doesn't give you the right to interrogate innocent people. Gohan and I both have our secrets as do many people, and maybe if you were a more accepting person then people would open up more to you." Lime sighed heavily and sat back down next to the shocked Videl. She placed her head n her hands and began to silently cry.  
  
Videl just sat there in shock. *Is that what I am, closed minded? Am I really that hard to talk to? Maybe she is right... maybe if I weren't such a horrible person then I would have more friends. Gohan seems like such a nice guy, even if he is a little quirky, and all I have ever done is interrogate him about his secrets, why do Lime and him even talk to me?* "Lime," Videl said softly, "I... I'm so sorry. You're right... I'm such a horrible person, why do you even have anything to do with me?"  
  
Lime looked up, her face stained with tears, "Because Videl, you have a destiny, I know it for a fact that you will have an important role to play in the history of this world, and because you're not a horrible person. You ARE in need of a little work but, deep down, you are a good person. You care about people, that's why you risk your life to save so many, and that's what attracts kindred spirits, like Gohan's, the two of you are more alike then you know Videl, just give him a chance. Stop listening to your head and listen to your heart for a change, he won't hurt you and neither will I." Videl looked at Lime as she dried her eyes and smiled lightly at Videl. Videl smiled in return.  
  
"How did you get do smart?"  
  
"I had a good teacher, and I wonder what happened to him... Gohan should have been back a while ago..."  
  
"I'm here," Gohan said as he walked into the room, "I was just making sure it was ok that we all meet here at CC. Bulma turned on some of the remote cameras; they should tell us when Sharpner and Erasa enter the city and then give us a warning a few minutes before they arrive. I think it's better if Sharpner NOT come back in here, Vegeta may decide not to let him live this time." Gohan said grinning at the thought.  
  
"Well," Videl said, "I think that Vegeta guy needs some anger management or something."  
  
"Do I now?" The trio turned to the door, only to find Vegeta standing there leaning up against the door frame, Trunks was at his heels smirking. "Brat, what did I tell you about bringing weaklings like her into my house, it's bad enough that that other girl is here but I thought I told you NOT to bring any more here?"  
  
"I know Vegeta and I apologize. This is my friend Videl, she didn't mean what she just said and she's not staying for very long. I promise that she will be of no bother to you." Vegeta just glared at Videl, while Videl herself glared at Gohan.  
  
"Who said I was sorry?" Videl asked angrily, "Anyone who attempts to kill people should be locked up, and don't speak for me Gohan, my father does that enough as it is!"  
  
"Please Videl," Gohan sighed, "just drop it."  
  
"He doesn't scare me; I'm the daughter of Mr. Satan and..." Videl stopped as she saw Vegeta lunge forward. She braced herself for the attack, but it never came. She looked up and found Gohan standing in front of her, his hand tightly clasped around Vegeta's wrist.  
  
"How dare you!" Vegeta said, standing up and reclaiming his fist, "You brought the daughter of that f*&%ing b@$%@*d into MY home! You have stepped over the line this time boy. I do not understand why you let that sad, pathetic, lying excuse for a man live after what he did to you and your family."  
  
"Gohan," Videl squeaked, "What is he taking about? What did my father do?"  
  
"It doesn't matter Videl," Gohan said sadly, looking at the ground as he spoke, "We should go wait somewhere else, let's go." Videl continued to stare at Gohan, dumbstruck, but she followed after him anyway. Gohan stopped in the doorway and held the door open for the two girls to pass though. They walked into the hall and continued down the hallway a little ways, as they did this Gohan turned to face the enraged Prince. "Ya know Vegeta, you should be very glad that none of us here on Earth have the same attitude as you do, cause if we did you probably would be dead right now. We don't hold your crimes against Trunks, and we don't hold the crimes of your people against you; in return you should not hold Mr. Satan's actions against his daughter, she is an innocent Vegeta, something that you can not claim yourself." With that Gohan walked out the door and down the hall. He passed the two girls who were waiting for him and kept walking at the same pace down the hall, causing the girls to jog to catch up with him.  
  
"Gohan what was that all about?" Videl asked cautiously.  
  
"That was Vegeta being a jerk. Videl, don't pay any attention to what Vegeta said about your father, he's not a very sociable person."  
  
"But what did my father do to make him so mad? What did he do to you Gohan; I want to know, please!" Gohan stopped and looked into Videl's eyes for a moment, *She seems to honestly want to know, does she really care about what her father did to upset my friends so much? Well, maybe I'll tell her a little about her father's true self, she deserves to be told the about her father, even if she is too stubborn to believe me...*  
  
"I guess you should know the truth about your own father, at least what I can tell you of it... Hey Lime, do me a favor and go and tell Bulma that we'll be in the animal park until the others arrive, ok?"  
  
"Sure Gohan," Lime said smiling lightly before turning and walking down the hall to find Bulma. Gohan led Videl into the park and they sat down next to each other under a tree. They sat in silence for moment as Gohan worked out what he was going to say.  
  
"I really don't know how to say any of this Videl."  
  
Videl smiled, "Stop being so shy and just tell me why it is that my family is hated by you and your group of friends."  
  
"They don't have anything against you personally Videl; it's just what you represent to them. We gave Vegeta a second chance and, although he's annoying most of the time, he has proven himself as a powerful ally. Vegeta has trained to be the strongest fighter in the universe since the day he was born, he considers your father's actions and boasts to be in contradiction of what he believes a warrior's actions should be."  
  
"Well on that point I actually agree with Vegeta, my father doesn't even train anymore, he's so cocky that he'll win every fight since he's the "Great Savior of the World" he always says that he can't be beat... oh my Kami... do I act like that?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
"I guess Lime was right, I never give ANYONE a chance anymore."  
  
"You could say that or you could just say that you're overly cautious about people's motives is all."  
  
"Gohan I am so sorry for everything. I was so horrible to you, and everyone for that matter," she began to cry causing Gohan to panic.  
  
"No, no it's all right Videl, it really is..... besides you had a good reason for always being on my case, and that reason was that, although I tried not to, I did lie to you sometimes. I hate having to lie and hide who I am all the time, if people were a little more open then maybe I wouldn't... but I can't change everyone so I guess it doesn't really matter. So I should be the one apologizing to you! Just stop crying please!!" Videl looked up and sniffed, then dried her eyes.  
  
"Ya know, you're right, you should be the one apologizing, but I promise to leave you alone from now on. I guess you have the right to your secrets, just like everyone else... But don't think that gets you off the hook today, you still haven't told me what my father did to you and your family."  
  
"Oh well..."  
  
"And don't lie to me!"  
  
"Ok, you remember when my mom said that she was a fighter?" Videl nodded, "Well my father was also a fighter, and he trained under Master Roshi for a little while when he was a young boy. My grand father was also a student of Master Roshi a long time before my father and that's how my dad met Roshi and my mother."  
  
"And your father's name is Goku?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Son Goku?"  
  
"Uh, yeah..."  
  
"Your father is the former World Champion!?" Gohan nodded, cringing I anticipation of her next words, "Why do I feel like we've had this conversation before?" She sighed and leaned back up against the tree, her eyes closed. Gohan stopped cringing and blinked at her confused by her response.  
  
"Actually... we have, please let me finish before you yell though," Gohan added anticipating a barrage of questions form the girl beside him, "When I told you before you reacted rather badly, so I asked the former God of the Earth to erase your memory of the event, so that when I told you at another point in time, after we knew each other more, I could explain things fully without worrying about you telling anyone or demanding a deciding fight between the two of us."  
  
"Gohan, I never would have told, I did want to fight you, but that was because I believed I was the best out there, and I believed my father's lies about the previous winners using tricks to fight. I am sorry, and I promise not to tell, on one condition..." Gohan gulped, "you have to teach me how to fly, I know you have to know how seeing as I saw your father flying in an old video of the 23rd Tournament... and a picture of Vegeta flying with Bulma." Gohan sighed heavily.  
  
"And I thought you'd ask for a fight again."  
  
"Well," Videl said her eyes gleaming with deviousness, "I do still want to fight, but I want you to go to the World Championships in two months so I can fight you there. You owe me that for erasing my memory, plus the winner gets 10milion Zennie, but of course you'll have to go through me and my father first..." She smiled at him as sweetly as she could manage, causing him to bury his head in his hands.  
  
"I'll ask if it's ok, and, while I'm at it, I'll invite everyone else I know who used to fight at the tournaments." Gohan smirked at her, "They all know how to fly and many are former champs themselves." Videl rolled her eyes.  
  
"So now all you have to do is TELL ME HOW YOU KNOW GOD!!!" Gohan covered his ears with his hands as she screamed at him, and from only a foot away!  
  
"That's a long story that I promise to tell you at another time, but Lime just walked in, don't ask me explain how I know that, but we should go." Gohan stood up and extended his hand to help Videl to her feet. Videl stared at his hand for a moment, trying to figure out how Gohan was so polite all the time, then grabbed a hold of it and jumped up. The two began walking and momentarily came upon Lime waving at them to get their attention.  
  
"Well, it's time for the two of you to go, Sharpner and Erasa should be here in a few minutes and Vegeta is out near the front of the house so you should probably go out the back to avoid him."  
  
"Thanks Lime, I appreciate it. Are you sure that you don't want to come with us?"  
  
"I'm sure; I have things to do before I leave next week."  
  
"And when are you going to tell me where you're going? I promised your grandfather I'd look after you, and I refuse to break my promise, so where are you going?"  
  
"Alright, I'll tell you, but not now, your friends are coming soon and you need to get going."  
  
"We're going, but you'd better tell me when I get back."  
  
"Lime nodded, "Have fun, and watch out for strangers!" Lime smiled cheerily. Gohan looked at her for a moment as he thought, *I really don't understand her sometimes, she always seems to know more than she lets on...*  
  
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Videl snapped rather angrily.  
  
"Well you're in a good mood aren't you...? Did I interrupt something important?" She looked from Videl to Gohan smiling mischievously.  
  
"No Lime you didn't I just have a lot on my mind, I'm sorry for snapping."  
  
"Hmm... Well, I didn't mean anything really, just a comment," Lim stated, "No its time to go, bye!" Lime waved as the couple walked out the doors of the park area.  
  
"So what did they talk about?" Lime asked to the air.  
  
"Nothing much," came the reply, "I think Gohan likes her though, he didn't even notice I was here." Lime looked up as Mirai leaped from the trees and landed behind her. Lime smiled at him.  
  
"I know... Oh, I was wondering if you could do me a favor." Mirai looked at her questioningly, "It's nothing big, but Gohan promised to teach me to fly; he taught me the basics of ki control in his spare time but, after your little meeting tonight, I don't think that Gohan will have the time to finish before I leave next week."  
  
"HOW do you know about the meeting??"  
  
"I have my ways, but now's not the time. Will you teach me or not?" *Please say yes!!* Lime thought, *I need to keep him occupied for just a little while... and learning how to fly while I do it is just a pleasant side effect.*  
  
"Fine, I guess... You're a strange girl you know that?" Lime smiled sweetly at him causing him to laugh, "So, where do you want to start..."  
  
Gohan and Videl walked out the doors deep in conversation. "I promise I'll teach you how to fly, just not tonight, I have a previous engagement..."  
  
"Flying is easy," claimed a feminine voice that drifted down to them from the trees. Gohan and Videl looked around for a moment before coming across an astonishing sight. There, standing gracefully on a small limb of a tree a hundred feet above their heads, was a young woman. She looked no older then twenty five, and was staring at them intently with her piercing sapphire eyes. With a small giggle she leaped off the branch and landed, in a sitting position, on another branch about ten feet above the ground. She wore black leather pants with tall black boots; and a tight, black spandex, sleeveless top. Her long black hair hung down behind her, an interracially designed golden ring about halfway down the length of her hair was holding it together. She had a sword with a golden hilt hanging from her hip on a thick black belt and a knife strapped to her thigh. She smiled at the two of them as they stared at her. "Now, now, Gohan it's not nice to stare... Your friend, Videl is it? She might get jealous." She giggled again, her laugh was slightly childish and innocent in nature and Gohan would have thought her completely harmless, were it not for her weapons and unusually low ki.  
  
"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" Gohan asked.  
  
"And why should I not know of your identity? You are the famous Son Gohan, the boy who defeated Cell and banished the worm Garlic Jr. into the Dead Zone. The son of Son Goku, the man who, not only defeated the Red Ribbon Army and Demon King Piccolo single handedly, but became the World Martial Arts Champion at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, the first Super Saiyan in a thousand years and is one of the last of the Saiyan race."  
  
"Who are you and what do you want?" Gohan moved in front of Videl in case she decided to attack suddenly.  
  
She began to laugh once again, "I am no threat to you; I know you could defeat me in an instant if you used your full power, but I am not interested in fighting you right now... Although I could use good spar, I haven't had one in..." the woman paused, reflecting on the memory, "well it really doesn't matter. The only reason I am here," she said softly as she floated down closer to the ground, stopping about six feet above the grass, her feet did not touch the ground although her hair was brushing the longer blades of grass very lightly. Her eyes were even with Gohan's, and only a few inches away from his, as she resumed speaking, "is to introduce myself to you, well, after a fashion at least... It has been a pleasure young hero; I look forward to our next meeting. Keep alert though, for I can guarantee that I will see you before you can see me." She smiled again, and blowing a kiss to Gohan, disappeared into the trees, jumping nimbly from limb to limb without making a sound or moving a leaf.  
  
"Gohan, who the HELL was that, and what the HELL was she talking about!" Videl looked rather upset at the woman's audacity and Gohan's response to her.  
  
"Ya know Videl, I really don't have a clue, but I think we should be on guard, she may be an ally, or a new enemy..." Gohan stood, staring off into the trees where the mysterious woman had disappeared into.  
  
AN: I love mysterious figures. I'm sure some of you know who she is (like the one who created her) but I'm not gonna tell you specifically here in case you don't though. She's one of my favorite original characters, I'm so happy that I'm the one that gets to write about her, that way she stays my favorite! Yay!! Anyway, I have to say something that you all might not like very much, I'm taking a small break from this. I have hit a little writer's block, I know where I want to go with stuff but I can't seem to discover how to get there. Plus I was re reading my old chapters and noticed the ST1 was right in his review. I know I can write better than I have in some of my older chapters, so I'm gonna go back and edit them all, making them better and longer (I hope) and maybe adding in a few new scenes, hopefully nothing that will alter the plotline though. That's where my mailing list comes into play, if I massively change a chapter I will email everyone o the list when I post it, just in case they are bored enough to read it. Don't hurt me though, I won't be gone long, I will put up a new chapter when I come back from London in the middle of March (I'm going to London! I'm going to London! I'm so happy!!!), until then everything will probably be just a rewrite. I'm gonna add a useless facts portion too so if you have any random uselees (or useful facts) that somehow relate to DB/Z or something that people don't seem to really get about it then email it to me. Oh, and I have a new story up (it's an original though) that I'm told its funny... It was inspired by Goku in DB and way too many hours of pointless RPG side-quests (especially the Final Fantasy series and Zelda...) others helped with it, yadda, yadda... Feel free to email me anytime about anything, I love email... And don't forget to REVIEW!!!!! 


	17. Seeing is Believing

CHAPTER PREVEIW AN: I am so sorry I haven't posted anything in such a long time!! Ok well I changed my mind, this is the next chapter, in it's entirety (unless I decide to add some details of stuff later on when I get time to finish editing it...) SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 16 Seeing is Believing  
  
Gohan continued to stare into the trees where the mysterious woman had disappeared only moments earlier. "What was she talking about Gohan? What did she mean the man who truly defeated Cell? My father defeated Cell didn't he?" Videl looked at Gohan, confused yet angry at the same time. Gohan tore his eyes from the trees and turned to face Videl.  
  
"Listen Videl, I'm not sure where she got that information from, but I'm not going to answer that question. If you think that she could not have been telling the truth then you the truth you know is the real truth, if you believe her then that is the real truth. Truth is relative Videl, whatever you believe beyond a shadow of a doubt is the truth, it may not be everyone's truth but it is your truth. Whatever you believe make sure that you have no doubts about it, doubting your beliefs in someone can be deadly, especially in battle." Gohan was looking straight into Videl's eyes, deadly serious about everything he was saying, his eyes never wavered or blinked as his stare penetrated into her very soul. "Just think about it Videl," he broke eye contact ad looked out to the front of the building, his expression softening, "Erasa and Sharpner are here anyway and we have work to do. Let's go." Gohan flashed a small smile at Videl before heading to the front of the building to greet his friends.  
  
Videl just stood there staring after him, dumbstruck, "My father did beat Cell, didn't he?" Gohan greeted the other two teens merrily; he spoke to them for a minute before motioning Videl over to them. She walked over, not really knowing what she was doing but doing it nonetheless. The four teens set off on foot through the city though if you asked Videl what they did that afternoon she wouldn't be able to tell you a thing. She may have been physically with her friends but mentally she was gone, trying to figure Gohan and his comrades out was a long and complex process.  
  
*Ok Videl, think, what do you know about Gohan? He's cute, smart, and really nice when he wants to be... No, no, no, about his past, dummy... He's Son Goku's son, Goku fought in the World Tournament and was the champion before my dad was. He could fly and do all those light attacks too. Gohan, being his son obviously knows how to do them as well, meaning he must know how to fight, although by his appearance he doesn't look all that strong. But he must be to have stopped Vegeta from hitting me. So he's strong and can fight but he doesn't like to, why? That strange woman said he beat Cell, but how is that possible... Was he that little boy at the Cell Games? This would also mean that he's the Gold Fighter, that he can change his hair color at will like that. Some of his friends do look like the people at the Cell Games... But why wouldn't he come forward before? Why would someone allow their accomplishments to be claimed by somebody else? If Gohan really did defeat Cell then he must be stronger than me, which would prove that he really is the Great Saiyaman but he fights as Saiyaman, but not as Gohan, why? What happened to him that made him lose his will to fight, and if he has no will to fight then why does he fight at all? Why?* "Why?" she whispered again as they walked through the streets of Ginger Town. Gohan looked at Videl, he had heard what she said but didn't want to interrupt her thought process, for fear of being screamed at again.  
  
*Every time I talk to Gohan about his father he seems to get really depressed, although he tries to hide that, does his not wanting to fight stem from that? Wait, didn't he say his father was killed by Cell?* Videl looked up at Gohan, who was standing right next to her and started to speak for the first time all afternoon, "Gohan, I..."  
  
"GOHAN!" The four teens looked up and stared at the man approaching them, "Hey, Bulma said you were out here somewhere this afternoon, how's it going?" Gohan waved to the man while Videl glanced at him curiously before returning her attention to other things. Erasa stared at him for a moment before she promptly passed out. Sharpner had the worst reaction though, he started off by staring, and then progressed on to stuttering incoherently for a few minutes, after that, and just as Erasa was coming to, he fainted.  
  
"Sharpner you idiot get off of me!" Erasa screamed as she tried to get out from under Sharpner's overly muscled body.  
  
"Here let me help you," Erasa heard as Sharpner's limp torso was lifter off of her and tossed over the man's shoulder with ease. "You all right? I didn't mean to scare you guys like that, but I guess sometimes my good looks just seem like they can't be real, and such perfection scares people sometimes."  
  
"Yamcha, shut up," Gohan stated simply as he went over to help Erasa to her feet. Yamcha laughed merrily at the comment. "These are my friends, this is Erasa, Videl's over there, and the guy hanging over your shoulder is Sharpner. Your something of a hero to him I think, he was the one that wanted to meet you, and you played baseball with his dad I as far as I know." Yamcha placed Sharpner's unconscious form on the ground and looked at him for a moment.  
  
"Yeah, he looks familiar, so that's a good possibility." Sharpner began to stir at that moment. Everyone looked at him as he began to wake up. He slowly opened his eyes only to find himself staring at a man with scars all over his face. "Well I'm glad you woke up when you did, I would've hated to put you through the pains of being brought back into the world of the living drenched in ice water; although it may have been an amusing sight." Sharpner stared at the man in awe.  
  
"Wow, I can't believe it! You're actually talking to me!" Sharpner stood up and rushed forward. He grabbed Yamcha's hand and began to shake it so furiously that if Yamcha had been a normal human he was sure that his arm would have been ripped from its socket. After Sharpner had sufficiently calmed himself down Yamcha decided to treat them all to snack and he spent an hour talking to Sharpner about his baseball career. After that Videl go annoyed and insisted that the group continue on to work on their project before it got dark. Sharpner and Erasa were disappointed but agreed after they realized their complaining was getting them no where.  
  
Yamcha said good bye to the teens and took out his capsule car to return to CC before flying home. Gohan and his group headed off in the other direction to find people to talk to about Cell's "visit" to the town. That was harder than it looked though, no one wanted to talk about it, and those who were willing to talk had only heard the story second hand. Apparently many people had left the city after Cell's attack due to the bad memories that were there, the few who stayed were very unwilling to speak about the experiences because they thought it bad luck.  
  
"What s wrong with all these people? Why are they so superstitious about crap like this??" Videl screamed as they exited the thirtieth shop of the afternoon, "this is supposed to be a modern era, why are all these people afraid of a ghost?" Gohan cringed at the loudness of her voice. Even Erasa, who was clinging to Gohan once again, covered her ears at the sound. Sharpner was standing in between Gohan and Videl though, although, fortunately for him, he had selective hearing and paid no heed to Videl's screams. "WHY ARE THEY SO AFRAID OF NOTHING?!"  
  
"It's because ghosts can come back to take revenge on the living," a creepy high pitched voice taunted. Gohan looked to where he heard the voice, and the extremely high ki, coming from, but didn't see anything. At that moment the entire street exploded around them in a flash of light, engulfing them  
  
AN: Ack, evil cliffy! I know this chapter is short but if I try to make it longer it'll confuse you considering the next scene is a really odd scene change, maybe a little look into the bad guy's hierarchy as well... Plus I have yet figure out who just did that... 


	18. Surprises in Eternity

AN: I HAVE RETURNED FROM THE DEAD, like many of the characters in this story do... Heh, sorry bout all this... I seriously lack the time to write anymore. the hectic OCDness of my life is getting to me... Oh well, here's the next chapter finally... I am trying something a little different this time and am doing a few scene changes back and forth for two major things that are happening at once. SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 17 Surprises in Eternity  
  
She opened her eyes and was not surprised to find everything was white and that she was unable to move, *Ow... shit this hurts like hell... After all, everything did just explode... I'm probably dead.* She tried to move but it felt like her body weighed a hundred times more than it normally did. The unnatural glow that seemed to have no source was beginning to make her lose her orientation, if she hadn't been pinned down the way she was she wouldn't know which way was up at all. *What is this place anyway, am I dead?* She tried to turn her head rather unsuccessfully, but the little she did move allowed her to catch a glimpse of one of her friends lying next to her, unconscious.  
  
"Don't worry, everything will be fine," a disembodied voice echoed around her, "someone will come and get you as soon as possible, just don't try to move or you'll hurt yourself... We'll explain later." She heard a slight whoosh before everything fell silent again, *Too quiet... nothing on earth is this quiet... maybe I am dead. That voice sounded so familiar though but if I'm not dead them where am I??*  
  
She tried once again to move, slowly but surely managing to turn onto her stomach and lifting her head enough to view her surroundings. The unconscious bodies of her two oldest friends were strewn nearby, they were covered in dirt and looked slightly flustered but she could see that they were still breathing, though with great difficulty. *Alright, they're breathing, and I'm breathing... which probably means that we aren't dead... SO WHERE THE HELL AM I?!* She screamed in her mind because she could barely gather enough strength to breathe in the intense gravity, let alone speak.  
  
"You don't have to scream so loud I can hear you fine from this distance." She tried to move her head to see who was speaking but there was no one nearby as far as she could see. Suddenly she felt someone grab onto her feet and begin to pull her away from her friends. She tried desperately to reach out for them but couldn't. "Don't worry," the voice said again, "We're just moving you to somewhere where you can stand up properly, he left you three much too far out, the gravity would have crushed you if you stayed out there. I'll have my assistant grab the other two and bring them to places where they can rest." She could feel the pressure on her chest begin to lift as she was dragged across the shining white floor by someone, *If only I hadn't used so much energy to flip over then I could see who was dragging me now...*  
  
"That is true," The voice said, causing her to gasp loudly, "Now please don't scream." He let go of her legs and she quickly flipped over, the gravity was much lighter here, she noticed as she looked into the face of the man who saved her, "Hello, you must be Videl, my name is Dende," and she screamed.  
  
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Gohan was searching the street for any sign of the person who had blown it up only moments before. He felt horrible for leaving his friends like that, especially since Videl woke up rather quickly. But he had no choice, any longer and whoever had done this would have made a clean escape. He searched for any high ki in the area but came up empty, except for the usual suspects, Vegeta, Mirai and the others in South City, though none of them seemed to be moving toward the scene. This in itself confused Gohan, *Why aren't they coming? Didn't they feel a strange Ki here? Mirai's ki is raised slightly but. no wait, he's on his way now. What the hell? And where is this guy at, why can't I find him??*  
  
"GOHAN," Mirai's voice broke him from his reverie. "Where is she Gohan?"  
  
"She? It was a guy's voice I heard before everything blew."  
  
"No, it's her that Saiyan general I was telling you about! I felt her ki but Lime tried to stop me from coming. I didn't actually want to hurt the kid so it took a while to get her to let leave without hurting her." Gohan smiled at his friend's situation but quickly got back to the matter at hand.  
  
"I felt a really large ki too but the voice was a guy's. It was really familiar and high pitched. He said something about ghosts coming back though....." Gohan and Mirai gave each other puzzled looks but continued to scan the area for any sign of the attacker, both with their eyes and their ki.  
  
"Nothing, I know I felt her ki here somewhere. She only lets you sense it when she wants to though... Why did she want us to sense her?" Mirai was furious at the lack of progress they were making in their search.  
  
"Don't worry about too much. She wasn't the one who attacked... I wish I had gotten a good view of the guy who did it... Wait! I only sensed one ki if you say it wasn't the guy's ki then how did he get enough power to blow the street like this?"  
  
The color drained from Mirai's face as he came to a realization, "Androids." Gohan looked at him, shocked.  
  
"No, we destroyed them all! Unless... A ghost... Android 19."  
  
"Correct," came a high pitched voice from behind. Gohan and Mirai had barely enough time to register what was going on when said android launched an energy attack at them. Shocked, the two half Saiyans dodged the attack just in time.  
  
"Hey," Gohan yelled, "Don't use energy attacks on this guy he absorbs it. We have to take out with physical attacks." Mirai nodded his head before charging the android. He punched it, full force, in the chest, but the android didn't even budge. Mirai froze, shocked that his punch had no effect. He stayed to long though, as Android 19 grabbed his still extended arm and began to suck the energy from him.  
  
Mirai reacted quickly though and drew his sword with his left hand and removed the android's arm in one clean sweep. Gohan was right behind the android at his point, powered up to Super Saiyan. He took the machine's head between his hands and crushed it, then released his hold. The two watched as its body crashed into the ground below in a heap, both with the same thought in their head. *This was WAY too easy.*  
  
"I knew that would be too simple for you Gohan," a female voice drifted towards them.  
  
"YOU!!" Mirai yelled, "Show yourself you witch!"  
  
"Tsk, tsk. My, what a temper you have. I really did think you were dead my dear Trunks, I am shocked to see you here in one piece." Mirai and Gohan were desperately looking for where the voice was coming from. "There is no need to look for me as I am not anywhere in the vicinity any longer. Maybe you'll catch me next time."  
  
"That voice," Gohan started, "I know that voice. Wait! You were the one who spoke to me at CC, you warned me. Why?"  
  
"Heh, next time you get no warning about the attack. I like to play with my prey before I destroy them, so be on your guard or you may die before the end of the game. Bye for now." A laugh pierced the air then faded to nothingness.  
  
Mirai screamed in frustration, power blowing the dust away from him as he did so. Gohan meanwhile powered down and lowered himself to a rooftop deep in thought about the strange events.  
  
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Videl stopped screaming as she came fully back to her senses. Taking deep breathes she remembered seeing the same green skin in Gohan's house the night that she and the others stayed over. Dende continued to smile at her serenely as she recomposed herself. She got to her feet and brushed the dust and debris from her clothes.  
  
"I am glad to see that you're alright Miss Videl. If you will follow me out of here quickly though... I am sure the fight is over by now."  
  
"Fight?" Videl questioned.  
  
"Yes, whatever destroyed the street... Time in this place flows very differently then in the outside world and we have been inside for at least the equivalent of twenty minutes outside the chamber." Videl stared at him blankly as he led the way out of the strange place they were in, past a large hourglass and through a strange door. "you may stay here until Gohan returns."  
  
"Gohan?" Videl questioned as she looked around the area on the other side of the door, "Where did he go? Don't tell me he went to fight something that could blow up a street!" She stared at Dende incredulously.  
  
"Don't underestimate someone you don't know the capabilities of."  
  
"I have to go help him!" Videl ran down a hall toward the exit of the building. Outside the building she realized how difficult it was to breathe as she ran. *I must be really high up for the air to be this thin, but how did I get here?*  
  
Her thoughts stopped there as she almost collided with a large black object. "Excuse me," it said in a high-pitched voice. She looked back at it in shock but kept running towards the edge of the platform. "I do think you should stop running before you get hurt," Videl turned to face front again and was shocked when she DID collide with the strange black creature.  
  
"How... But you were..." She turned around to where he was moments ago then looked up at his smiling face above her. "How did you move that fast?"  
  
"I really don't think you should run to the edge of the Lookout in that fashion, you're likely to fall off the edge. Besides we were told that you were not to leave here until Gohan returned." He stated as he extended his hand to help her to her feet.  
  
"Like you can keep me here?' Videl jumped to her feet and launched herself at him, and then everything went black.  
  
AN: Well I have more in my head, but I have a paper to do now. Let me tell you being dead is not all it's cracked up to be... my summer was really hell. Well I hope you like the chapter... even though it really does suck compared to other people's writing. I actually had to re read my old chapters to figure out where I was going with this one... I hope to have the next chapter up on the one year anniversary of this fic. But in the meantime read my original stuff I have on fictionpress.com and tell me if the quality is better or not. Thank you all for the reviews... they really did make me write this! REVIEW NOW!!!! 


	19. Luck and Revelations

AN: HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY LITTLE STORY!!! Thank you all for reading this story for the past year. I apologize in advance for the horrible lack of editing for this chapter, I wanted it out on the 18th and didn't have much time to work on it. SO ON WITH THE STORY  
  
Chapter 18 Luck and Revelations  
  
Gohan was extremely confused, a massive feat considering his advanced intellect. Mirai and Gohan had encountered an android... one thought long destroyed. That wasn't the confusing part though, Mirai had explained already about the alternate timelines so it was reasonable to assume that the android was from a timeline in which he hadn't been, or had yet to be destroyed. Mirai knew that the woman that had spoken to Videl and Gohan outside Capsule Corps was an enemy, one he hated passionately... she was the Saiyan general, Ale-jentzu. Her presence in their timeline was no longer questionable, though her motives were still shrouded in mystery. Why had she attacked them with an enemy that was known to be much weaker then them? Why hadn't she shown herself during the fight and why had she warned Gohan about the attack before hand? These thoughts ran through both Gohan and Mirai's minds as they traveled toward Dende's Lookout. As the lookout came into sight though those thoughts were pushed into the back of Gohan's mind.  
  
"Oh damn it," Gohan stated suddenly, breaking Mirai out of his thoughts to stare at him incredulously for his outburst. Noticing the look Gohan continued, "When the street blew I took my friends up to the lookout to be safe, they were all knocked out when I brought them there. But right before I left Videl woke up... Dende and Popo won't let the others see them if they can help it... Videl is another matter though. When we get up there," Gohan said pointing to the ever growing platform on the horizon, "I think I will have a lot of explaining to do." Gohan stared ahead in desperation and anxiety. It was a few moments before he realized that Mirai was no longer beside him. Looking back he saw Mirai shaking in mid air. Worried, Gohan raced back tot his friend's position only to find that Mirai wasn't shaking from pain but from laughter.  
  
"I. I'm sorry," Mirai managed to gasp between fits of hysterics. "But with that look on your face. I was thinking that there was another enemy ready to beat the crap out of us... But I guess to you Videl is more dangerous then anything Ale-jentzu could throw at us huh?" Mirai was not the world's luckiest person. He had lost everything he had ever loved and more... He never gave up though; he never stopped tempting fate... Though he picked the wrong person to tempt fate with this time..... In less then a blink of an eye Gohan had punched him in the face with all the power he could muster, backed with all his pent up frustration... Mirai had his first taste of luck right then, he managed to live.  
  
Gohan continued on his way to the Lookout, leaving Mirai to plummet to the ground and hopefully regain consciousness before he hit it. Mirai had some truth in his statement though, Videl was Gohan's most feared enemy, because she was an enemy who he couldn't fight back against.  
  
Gohan was still unsure of what he was going to say to Videl as he landed on the tiled platform. Gohan blinked as he registered the site before him. Mr. Popo was standing over an obviously unconscious Videl.  
  
"What happened?" Gohan exclaimed as he rushed over to check on Videl.  
  
"Oh Gohan you're back!" Mr. Popo said to Gohan. "Oh there is nothing to worry about with the poor girl. she did want to run off the edge of the lookout though. I had to stop her somehow." Gohan hit Videl lightly on the cheek to wake her up. "I hit her on the back of the neck, so as not to leave a mark behind. I am afraid that she may not wake up for some time thou..." Popo trailed off as Videl began to stir.  
  
Groaning Videl tried to sit up only to cause even greater pain to enter her head. She noticed someone gently helping her to her feet, and, once she could stand, looked to thank her helper.  
  
"GOHAN!" Videl jumped in surprise, only to clutch her head and wobble in Gohan's firm grasp. "What, what is going on?"  
  
"Well it looks like things have gotten a little out of hand... What's the last you remember before the explosion?"  
  
"There was this creepy high pitched voice that came from the sky that said something about being a ghost... Oh no I have to go back and stop that thing from hurting anyone else!" Videl once again tried to run for the edge of the lookout but failed as Gohan still had a tight grip on her upper arm. "Let me go! I have to help those people."  
  
"Videl," Gohan said forcefully, startling her, "Anyone who was in the path of that blast is dead now." Videl looked at him in shock and horror.  
  
Tears came to her eyes as she began to speak, "No... I survived... I know I saw Sharpner and Erasa earlier... If we got out ok then there have to have been others too, we have to help them." Gohan continued to stare at her, his eyes void of all emotion.  
  
"I was barely able to get the three of you out of there alive. I don't even know if there was anyone else nearby, I don't know if there was anyone else in the way of the blast... All I can do is pray there wasn't."  
  
"That thing... I swear I will beat that thing for trying to kill me." Videl said drying her eyes, which wee now full of determination. Gohan smiled slightly at that, *Now that's the Videl I know...* Videl glared at Gohan, both for his mysterious smirk at such an inappropriate time as well as his bruising grip on her arm. Gohan proceeded to do the Son grin for her, releasing his grip to place it behind his head.  
  
"Don't worry Videl, that creepy android has already been dismantled."  
  
"ANDRIOD!" Dende exclaimed, approaching them, "Gohan aren't all the evil androids gone?"  
  
"Yeah," Gohan said, his smile fading, "But you forgot about the whole alternate dimension thing, Mirai thinks that he may have been from a time where they androids hadn't been defeated yet..."  
  
"Speaking of Mirai.... Where is he?" Dende questioned looking around for any sign of the lavender haired demi-Saiyan.  
  
"He probably hit the ground a long time ago..." Gohan mused.  
  
"Alternate dimension?" Videl was giving Gohan her most vicious evil glare by this point. Gohan laughed nervously for a moment before resigning himself to defeat  
  
"Well I guess I might as well tell you what's been going on lately... I'm sure you've figured most of it out on your own... Like the fact that I am Saiyaman as well as the gold fighter."  
  
"If you are the Gold Fighter, prove it." Videl demanded. Gohan sighed in exasperation but ascended to the first level of Super Saiyan anyway. Videl jumped back at the sudden transformation but said nothing.  
  
"Happy?" he said as he returned to normal, Videl nodded. "Anyway, this guy over here is Dende, he's the current guardian or god of this planet. And yes I know you have a hard time believing that but just trust me on it ok?" Videl nodded once again causing Gohan to smile. "Oh yeah, then there's Mirai, he's from another timeline, an alternate one where these evil androids took over and..."  
  
"GOHAN YOU SON OF A BITCH I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!"  
  
AN: Hehe sorry about the abrupt end to this chapter but as I said earlier I wanted in up on the 18th, and its 11:30 PM... Cartoon Network had one of my favorite episodes of Rurouni Kenshin on (fans of this show should check out Peacemaker Kurogane that's based on the manga Shinsengumi Imon Peacemaker). The one at the end of the Kyoto Arc where he visits Tomoe's grave, the next part in the manga is my favorite part of Kenshin... I love Enishi... I was so upset that they split the anime and manga there, I really almost cried. The music is so pretty though I really want the soundtrack tot his show... Oh well DBZ is on now (it's a great Saiyaman episode too... with all of those horrible poses...) so I should post this up... and get back to watching Hikaru no Go (run for your life people... the Go ghost is one of the cutest characters I have seen). Once again sorry for the short pretty well unedited chapter. But, happy birthday story! Please review and give the cute little story a birthday present. I'll give you some birthday cake if you're good!!! 


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